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US 11,377,362 B2Granted
Lithium production with volatile acid
AssigneeLilac Solutions, Inc.
InventorsDavid Henry Snydacker, Alexander Yurievich Gershanov, Alysia Lukito, Garrett Chinyu Lau, Mustafa Juzer Bootwala, Sophia Patricia Mock
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Abstract
The present invention relates to the production of lithium from liquid resources such as natural and synthetic brines, leachate solutions from clays and minerals, and recycled products.
Claims30
A system for production of lithium hydroxide, comprising:
- a) an ion exchange unit containing ion exchange particles that absorb lithium from a liquid resource and that then release the absorbed lithium into an eluent comprising an acid to yield an eluate comprising a lithium salt;
- b) a heating unit that decomposes said lithium salt to crystallize lithium oxide solids while releasing a gaseous oxide;
- c) an absorption unit that absorbs said gaseous oxide into a scrubbing solution to yield recycled acid;
- and
- d) a hydration unit that combines said lithium oxide solids with water to form lithium hydroxide.
2 more elements
A system for lithium production, comprising:
- a) an ion exchange unit containing ion exchange particles that absorb lithium from a liquid resource and that then release the absorbed lithium into an eluent comprising a volatile acid to yield a lithium salt solution;
- b) a distillation unit that mixes sulfuric acid with said lithium salt solution and heats the resulting mixture to distill off volatile acid vapors and to yield lithium sulfate;
- and
- c) a condensation unit that condenses said volatile acid vapors to yield recycled volatile acid for reuse in said ion exchange unit.
1 more element
A system for lithium production, comprising:
- a) an ion exchange unit containing ion exchange particles that absorb lithium from a liquid resource and that then release lithium into an eluent comprising a volatile acid to yield a lithium salt solution;
- b) a first precipitation unit where a precipitant is mixed with said lithium salt solution to precipitate a lithium salt and yield an effluent;
- c) a distillation unit that mixes sulfuric acid with said effluent and heats the resulting mixture to distill off volatile acid vapors;
- and
- d) a condensation unit to condense said volatile acid vapors to yield recycled acid for reuse in said ion exchange unit.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.