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Lithium Extracting from Zinnwaldite: Economical Comparison of an Adapted Spodumene and a Direct‐Carbonation Process
Author(s) -
Rentsch Lars,
Martin Gunther,
Bertau Martin,
Höck Michael
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemical engineering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.403
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-4125
pISSN - 0930-7516
DOI - 10.1002/ceat.201700604
Subject(s) - carbonation , spodumene , lithium (medication) , extraction (chemistry) , mineral , metallurgy , chemistry , materials science , process engineering , chemical engineering , engineering , chromatography , medicine , ceramic , endocrinology
Lithium is used in a variety of everyday objects. The most important field of application is as components of battery electrolytes and electrodes. Next to salar brines, commercial lithium production relies on mineral ore sources such as spodumene, petalite, and lepidolite. This study provides an economic comparison of two processes for the extraction of lithium from zinnwaldite concentrate, a lithium mineral that can be found along the Czech/German border at Cínovec/Zinnwald. In contrast to the state‐of‐the‐art lithium extraction from siliceous ores, which is a hydrometallurgical extraction process with sulfuric acid, the novel direct‐carbonation process is based on digestion using supercritical carbon dioxide. An assessment of the capital and operating expenditures was also carried out.