Recovery of lithium from an acid solution

A method of recovering lithium from a lithium-containing material, the method comprising:

• mixing a lithium-containing material in an acid solution to form an acidic lithium solution, the mixing at a temperature of about 10° C. to about 100° C., and the acidic lithium solution including at least one or more of the acid solution, lithium, soluble organics, soluble metals, and suspended solids;
• delivering the acidic lithium solution to an ultrafiltration pretreatment membrane to retain a majority of the suspended solids and to permeate a filtered acidic lithium solution including at least one or more of the acid solution, the lithium, the soluble organics, and the soluble metals;
• delivering the filtered acidic lithium solution to a nanofiltration membrane to form a retentate and a permeate, the nanofiltration retentate includes one or both of the soluble organics and the soluble metals and the nanofiltration permeate forms a filtered acid and lithium solution including the acid solution and the lithium;
• delivering the filtered acid and lithium solution to a reverse osmosis membrane to form a retentate and permeate, the reverse osmosis retentate includes the lithium and the reverse osmosis permeate includes the acid solution;
• recovering lithium salts from the reverse osmosis retentate to form the recovered lithium and, optionally, recycling the reverse osmosis permeate to the mixing step;
• and
• wherein the lithium-containing material is a lithium ion cell or battery or a lithium-containing mineral deposit.