Processes for producing lithium compounds using reverse osmosis

A method of extracting lithium from a lithium containing solution, the method comprising:

• processing a lithium containing solution in a lithium capture step, wherein the lithium capture step includes:
• contacting the lithium containing solution with a sorbent material to capture lithium;
• stripping the sorbent material to produce an eluate;
• recycling at least a portion of the eluate back to the sorbent material, wherein the portion of the eluate comprises the highest concentration of lithium;
• recovering lithium from the eluate after the recycling step to produce a lithium rich stream;
• and
• concentrating the lithium rich stream by processing the lithium rich stream in a reverse osmosis step to produce a concentrated lithium rich stream.

A method of extracting lithium from a lithium containing solution, comprising:

• providing a lithium containing solution including divalent ions and borate ions;
• processing the lithium containing solution in a silica management step to remove silica from the lithium containing solution and to produce a silica-lean lithium solution;
• processing the silica-lean lithium solution in a lithium capture step, wherein the lithium capture step includes:
• contacting the silica-lean lithium solution with a sorbent material to capture lithium;
• stripping the sorbent material to produce an eluate;
• and
• recycling at least a portion of the eluate back to the sorbent, wherein the portion of the eluate comprises the highest concentration of lithium;
• and
• recovering lithium from the lithium capture step to produce a lithium rich stream.