Lithium Brine Extraction with Sorption and Stream Recycling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for extracting lithium from brine sources are inefficient, difficult to scale, expensive, and environmentally harmful, with low yield and high water usage, particularly sensitive to impurities such as divalent ions and silica.
Innovation Solution
A method involving sorption/desorption processes to extract lithium, followed by water removal and conversion to lithium carbonate or hydroxide, with recycling of streams to enhance efficiency and reduce water consumption, and the use of membrane separation to concentrate lithium.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If evaporation ponds with chemical additives are used to precipitate lithium, then lithium can be recovered, but the process requires months to complete and only recovers 50-60% of the original lithium
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical evaporation process with a chemical sorption process using selective adsorbents. Instead of relying on slow evaporation and chemical precipitation, the invention uses sorbent materials that selectively bind lithium ions from brine, enabling rapid extraction without lengthy evaporation periods and achieving over 90% recovery efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the key process parameters from temperature-time dependent evaporation to chemistry-dependent sorption. By adjusting pH, ionic strength, and sorbent selection rather than controlling evaporation rate and duration, the process achieves rapid lithium recovery with high selectivity and reduced time requirements.
2Productivity
If adsorbents are used to selectively recover lithium, then lithium yield improves, but the adsorbents are very sensitive to impurities such as divalent ions, silica, and metals
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary treatment steps before the sorption process to remove or adjust impurities that would interfere with adsorbent performance. This includes pH adjustment, filtration, and selective precipitation steps that prepare the brine feedstock, ensuring the sorbents operate in an optimal environment and maintain high selectivity and reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces intermediary treatment processes between the raw brine and the lithium-selective sorbents. These intermediary steps include chemical conditioning and impurity removal processes that mediate between the complex brine composition and the sensitive adsorbent materials, protecting the sorbents from deactivation by divalent ions, silica, and metals.
3Productivity
If current extraction methods are used, then lithium can be recovered, but the methods are expensive to operate and not efficient in use of water
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements comprehensive recycling and recovery of process water streams. Eluent streams, wash waters, and process effluents are recovered, treated, and reused within the process cycle, minimizing fresh water consumption and waste discharge. This closed-loop water management dramatically reduces water usage compared to conventional evaporation pond methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention designs the process to serve multiple functions with the same equipment and streams. The sorption system simultaneously concentrates lithium, removes impurities, and produces a purified product stream, while process waters serve both as reactants and as recyclable resources, reducing overall operational costs and water requirements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances lithium recovery efficiency by a factor of 20, reduces water usage, and minimizes environmental impact by recycling process streams, achieving high yield and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
extracting lithium from the aqueous source using an sorption/desorption process
Implementation Method 2
Many techniques use adsorbents that selectively recover lithium
Implementation Method 3
concentrating the purified lithium extract using a water removal process
Implementation Method 4
concentrating the intermediate lithium concentrate using a membrane separation process to form a lithium concentrate and a permeate stream
Data Source
AI summary
A method of recovering lithium from an aqueous source is described. Lithium is extracted from the aqueous source using a sorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract. Impurities are removed from the lithium extract to form a purified lithium extract, and the purified lithium extract is concentrated using a water removal process to form a lithium concentrate. The lithium concentrate is then converted to one or more of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to form a converted stream. Various streams, including some lithium-containing streams, are recycled to the sorption/desorption process.