Study on Preparation of Lithium Carbonate from Lithium-Rich Electrolyte

Recovery of lithium from lithium-rich electrolyte has attracted worldwide attention because of issues from both electrolytic aluminium production and environmental impacts. Lithium carbonate preparation from lithium-rich electrolyte by H2SO4 leaching, removing impurities and lithium precipitation with Na2CO3 was investigated in this work. About 98% Li was leached using 6% H2SO4 at 80 °C for 1 h at a solid to liquid ratio of 1:2. In addition, the Li2SO4 in the leached solution was directly purified to a final pH of 11 with NaOH and 3 g/L EDTA additions. After further precipitation with 290 g/L Na2CO3 at 95 °C for 50 min, 99.5% Li2CO3 was obtained. With this research, it is expected to potentially design processes for lithium-rich electrolyte recycling with high industrial viability.