Recovery of lithium values from brines
AssigneeFMC Corporation
InventorsWilliam C. Bauman, John L. Burba, III
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Abstract
Pellets of a polycrystalline hydrated alumina, especially Gibbsite, are infused with LiOH to obtain loadings up to 0.33 mol fraction of LiOH in the LiOH/Al(OH).sub.3. The so-prepared material is useful for mixing with a LiX-containing brine solution, producing an interaction of the LiOH infused in the alumina pellets with the X ion (where X represents an acid salt moiety, especially halide) of the LiX-containing brine. The LiX interaction product is efficiently removed from the alumina pellets by water washing, leaving rejuvenated LiOH which can be used in yet another cycling of LiX formation/water removal. A plurality of loading and unloading cycles are achieved, yielding an appreciable amount of the lithium values derived from the brine.
Claims20
A composition comprising pellets, each of said pellets consisting essentially of an integral mass of polycrystalline material of randomly disposed crystals of hydrated alumina infused with an amount of LiX to produce LiX/Al(OH).sub.3 having up to a mol fraction of 0.33 of LiX in the so-produced LiX/Al(OH).sub.3, wherein LiX is at least one compound selected from the group consisting of Li hydroxide, Li halide, Li nitrate, Li sulfate, and Li bicarbonate, said pellets being of a particle mesh size not smaller than about 140 United States Standard Sieve Size.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.