Author Identifier (ORCID)

Amir Razmjou: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3554-5129

Abstract

Laboratory bench scale experiments were performed to develop a process for electrodialysis (ED) of LiCl liquor from spodumene leaching and purification to produce LiOH solution, for subsequent conversion by evaporative crystallisation to LiOH·H2O crystals as the end-product. Nafion® 117 cation-selective membranes were used in all experiments. The small electrolytic test cell achieved an average LiOH production rate of 7.5 g/h with 83 % coulombic efficiency and specific electrical consumption of 6.5 kWh/kg LiOH. In the large electrolytic test cell, a higher average LiOH production rate of 11.2 g/h was attained but at lower coulombic efficiency (62 %) and greater specific electrical consumption (8.8 kWh/kg LiOH). In a longer period ED process, there was a further decrease in coulombic efficiency and an increase in the specific electrical consumption. Also, the cation-selective membranes were found susceptible to the deportment of cation and anion impurities (i.e., Na+, K+, and Cl-), which impacted the LiOH·H2O product purity. Higher purity LiOH·H2O was obtained from the LiOH liquor produced in the ED testwork by subjecting the liquor to partial evaporation under a nitrogen gas blanket. Further optimisation of the process parameters is expected to enhance the yield and purity of the LiOH·H2O product and reduce operating costs.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

10-1-2024

Volume

320

Publication Title

Desalination and Water Treatment

Publisher

Elsevier

School

Mineral Recovery Research Centre / School of Engineering

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Comments

Ang, K. L., Barmi, M., Boroumand, Y., Razmjou, A., & Nikoloski, A. N. (2024). Production of LiOH· H2O from lithium chloride by electrodialysis and crystallisation. Desalination and Water Treatment, 320. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dwt.2024.100778

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.dwt.2024.100778