Lithium carbonate precipitation by homogeneous and heterogeneous reactive crystallization

Lithium carbonate sedimentation using flocculants with different ionic bases

“…The production of lithium carbonate from brines is carried out by precipitation [20]. This lithium compound is the most important compound commercially produced and represented 60 % of the market share of commercial products based on lithium in 2017 [21]. Lithium carbonate precipitation using sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) has been commonly used in industry as well as in research as the final step to produce crystals in a hydrometallurgical process [21].…”

Advantages of pH and Temperature Control in the Carbonation Stage for Li2CO3 Production with Sulphated Liquors

“…However, using a solution saturated with Na 2 CO 3 only requires the chemical reaction between CO 3 2À and Li + and the precipitation of lithium carbonate. [6] Table 1 shows a summary of the experimental conditions that have been evaluated and reported in the literature about the obtention of lithium carbonate. Note that all these carbonation studies have been carried out with real leaching liquors [1,[7][8][9] or with aqueous synthetic solutions.…”

“…Note that all these carbonation studies have been carried out with real leaching liquors [1,[7][8][9] or with aqueous synthetic solutions. [4,6,[10][11][12] Some other interesting observations are distinguished in the works listed in Table 1. For example, regarding the carbonation studies that were carried out leaching β-spodumene, zinnwaldite, and lithium batteries, the leaching reagents were HF, HCl-HNO 3 , and H 2 SO 4 , and in most of these works, the carbonation stage was done by bubbling CO 2 , [1,7,8] except for the work carried out by Chen et al, [9] which added Na 2 CO 3 as the carbonation reagent followed by evaporation.…”

“…Some of these reagents are LiOH, [4,10] LiCl, [11][12][13] Li 2 CO 3 of low purity, [14] and Li 2 SO 4 . [6,15] In the majority of these works, the carbonation stage was carried out by injecting CO 2 (g) , except for the research done by Linneen et al [11] and Hongting and Gisele, [15] who added potassium carbonate (K 2 CO 3 ) and Na 2 CO 3 , respectively. Note also that most of these studies were carried out with chlorinated or alkaline solutions and only two of them with sulphated solutions.…”

“…For the studies conducted with sulphated solutions, one was carbonated with Na 2 CO 3 [15] and the other one with CO 2 . [6] The existence of very few studies on sulphated systems carbonated with CO 2 gas is evidence that more research on this chemical system is needed to advance the knowledge. Other interesting peculiarities of the studies carried out with synthetic solutions are that: a) some works used the electrolysis process with a cation exchange membrane, injecting CO 2 gas into the cathodic solution to precipitate the Li 2 CO 3 , [12] b) the addition of ammonium ion (NH 4…”