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Direct Lithium Extraction from a Complex Acidic Brine Using Aluminum Hydroxide
Alan Piao1, Jianjun Chen2, Chengi Hung2
1Oak Park High School, 899 Kanan Rd, Oak Park, California 91377, United States.
None:
Aluminum hydroxide (Al-(OH)3) is evaluated as a sorbent to directly extract lithium (Li) from a complex, acidic brine containing low-concentration Li+ and multiple metal cations with high concentration, including sodium (Na+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), manganese (Mn2+), and iron (Fe2+). Extraction experiments indicate that Al-(OH)3 can extract all cations except Ca2+ in the brine neutralized by excess Al-(OH)3. Higher reaction temperatures enhance the extraction efficiency but reduce the cation selectivity. When the pH of brine is adjusted to 11, all Mn2+ and Fe2+ cations precipitate out of the brine, and the alkaline condition may facilitate the formation of Ca-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) structure in competition with the formation of Li-Al LDH. To recover the extracted Li, the extraction product is heat-treated to convert LDH to Boehmite (γ-AlO-(OH)) that has a weaker affinity with Li+. Simple room-temperature water rinsing applied to the Boehmite demonstrates higher recovery of Li and separation of Li from other undesirable cations.
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