Lithium recovery through reversible fatty acid precipitation

Abstract

Described herein is a method for selectively recovering lithium cations from an aqueous solution; the method comprising the steps of: (a) adding a fatty acid composition comprising oleic acid to an aqueous salt solution comprising lithium cations and monovalent cations of at least one other metal besides lithium, to thereby form an aqueous fatty acid-salt mixture; (b) adjusting the pH of the mixture from step (a) to a pH in the range of about 8.5 to about 11.5, by adding an aqueous base to the mixture, thereby selectively forming a lithium fatty acid precipitate comprising lithium oleate; (c) separating the precipitate formed in step (b) from an aqueous supernatant comprising the cations of the at least one other metal and cations of the aqueous base; and (d) recovering the precipitate from step (c).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.