Lithium purification and conversion
AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsDominic Vincent Perroni, Gary W. Sams, Florence Binet, Rod William Shampine
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Abstract
Lithium recovery processes are described using concentration and conversion techniques. A vaporizer or membrane can be used to concentrate lithium and precipitate impurities. A conversion process can be used to replace anions in lithium bearing streams by adding a second anion and precipitating lithium in a salt with the second anion. Rotary separation can be used to separate the precipitated lithium salt.
Claims25
A method of recovering lithium from a brine source, comprising:
- extracting lithium from the brine source using an ion withdrawal process to form a lithium extract;
- concentrating the lithium extract using a first membrane separation operation, having a first semi-permeable membrane to yield a preconcentrated stream and a permeate stream,
- concentrating the preconcentrated stream using a second membrane separation operation, wherein the preconcentrated stream flows into a plurality of reactors in series, each containing a semi-permeable membrane separating the reactor into a first volume and a second volume, wherein the preconcentrated stream flows sequentially as a non-permeating stream into the first volume of each reactor, wherein the non-permeating stream exiting the plurality of reactors yields a lithium concentrate and wherein the second membrane operation yields a dilute brine stream that exits the second volume of at least one of the reactors, wherein the dilute brine stream is recycled into the first membrane separation operation.
A method of recovering lithium from a brine source, comprising:
- extracting lithium from the brine source using an ion withdrawal process to form a lithium extract;
- concentrating a stream derived from the lithium extract using a counter-flow reverse osmosis operation, to yield a lithium concentrate and a dilute brine stream,
- using a reverse osmosis operation to separate the dilute brine stream into two streams including a permeate stream,
- recycling the permeate stream.
A method of recovering lithium from a brine source, comprising:
- extracting lithium from the brine source using an ion withdrawal process to form a lithium extract;
- concentrating the lithium extract using one or more operations including at least a membrane separation operation, wherein at least one the membrane separation operation includes a plurality of reactors in series each having a semi-permeable membrane, yields a lithium concentrate and a dilute brine stream, and is configured so that the lithium concentrate has a TDS over 120,000 mg/l, preferably over 200,000 mg/l,
- separating the dilute brine stream using a semi-permeable membrane into two streams including a permeate stream, wherein the permeate stream has a TDS under 2,000 mg/l, preferably under 500 mg/l,
- recycling the permeate stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.