Onshore lithium-recovering apparatus for lithium ion adsorption and desorption process and lithium-recovering method using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018280831-A1
Application number	US-201715597429-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 17, 2017
Priority date	Mar 31, 2017
Publication date	Oct 4, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an onshore lithium-recovering device for a lithium ion adsorption and desorption process including a supply unit for supplying lithium-containing water in which lithium is dissolved, a composite unit, a washing unit, a desorbing liquid unit, an extract liquid unit, a pressure adjusting unit, a discharge unit, and a control unit. Therefore, the lithium adsorption means is moved onshore so it is possible to significantly reduce the plant installation cost and the operating cost as compared to the lithium recovery process that operates the conventional offshore plant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An onshore lithium-recovering apparatus for a lithium ion adsorption and desorption process comprising;
a composite unit disposed on land, supplied with lithium-containing water in which lithium is dissolved to adsorb the lithium dissolved in the lithium-containing water, and which desorbs the lithium again to discharge a lithium extract liquid; a washing unit disposed at one side of the composite unit, provided with a supply pipe to supply fresh water to the composite unit and to wash the composite unit; a desorbing liquid unit disposed at one side of the washing unit and which stores desorbing liquid or transfers the desorbing liquid through the supply pipe to supply the desorbing liquid to the composite unit; and an extract liquid unit disposed at one side of the composite unit and which receives and stores the lithium extract liquid generated by passing the desorbing liquid supplied from the desorbing liquid unit through the composite unit.

2 . An onshore lithium-recovering apparatus for a lithium ion adsorption and desorption process comprising:
a supply unit for supplying lithium-containing water in which lithium is dissolved; a composite unit disposed on land, in which the lithium-containing water is introduced to adsorb the lithium dissolved in the lithium-containing water, and which desorbs the lithium again to discharge a lithium extract liquid; a washing unit disposed at one side of the composite unit, provided with a supply pipe to supply fresh water to the composite unit and to wash the composite unit; a desorbing liquid unit disposed at one side of the washing unit and which stores desorbing liquid or transfers the desorbing liquid through the supply pipe to supply the desorbing liquid to the composite unit; an extract liquid unit disposed at one side of the composite unit and which receives and stores the lithium extract liquid generated by passing the desorbing liquid supplied from the desorbing liquid unit through the composite unit; a pressure adjusting unit disposed at one side of the composite unit and which adjusts the flow of the lithium-containing water by adjusting a pressure in the composite unit; a discharge unit communicating with the pressure adjusting unit to discharge the lithium-containing water from which the lithium is recovered; and a control unit for controlling the flow of the lithium-containing water in the composite unit, the fresh water in the washing unit, and the desorbing liquid in the desorbing liquid unit.

3 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the lithium-containing water is seawater taken directly from offshore using an intake pipe, or seawater for cooling a nuclear power plant or a thermal power plant disposed around the supply unit.

4 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the lithium-containing water is saltwater taken from lake brine around the supply unit.

5 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the lithium-containing water is geothermal water discharged from underground around the supply unit.

6 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the lithium-containing water is concentrated water discharged from desalination equipment.

7 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the composite unit further comprises: a housing; a plurality of conduits provided inside the housing and which communicate with the supply unit; a fixed block installed in the plurality of conduits and directly in contact with the lithium-containing water, wherein the lithium ions dissolved in the lithium-containing water are adsorbed or the lithium ions are desorbed even when the desorbing liquid is introduced, while maintaining its shape; a flow rate adjusting means provided at both ends of the plurality of conduits for adjusting the lithium-containing water; and a sensing means disposed on one side of the flow rate adjusting means for measuring the degree of contamination of the fixed block.

8 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein, the housing is provided so that one surface is openable, to enable confirmation of the contamination state of the fixed block, and the fixed block is detachable and replaceable.

9 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the plurality of conduits are provided separately from each other, and are replaceable when the fixed block installed in the conduit is contaminated by the lithium-containing water.

10 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein a sprinkler is disposed inside the plurality of conduits.

11 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the flow rate adjusting means is an automatic adjusting valve that detects a pressure difference due to a flow rate variation of the lithium-containing water to maintain the pressure difference at a predetermined level and adjusts the flow rate to a predetermined flow rate.

12 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the fixed block is an ion-sieve manganese oxide adsorbent wherein lithium is extracted by the desorbing liquid, obtained by molding lithium manganese oxide into a honeycomb form block or a porous material block.

13 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the fixed block is inserted and fixed to a fixing guide provided on the plurality of conduits.

14 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 7 ,
wherein the fixed block is provided to be spaced apart inside the plurality of conduits at regular intervals.

15 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 14 ,
wherein the distance between the fixed blocks is less than or equal to ½ of the length of each fixed block.

16 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the pressure adjusting unit is separately provided with a main pump and a spare pump.

17 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the desorbing liquid unit supplies the desorbing liquid until the lithium ions at the fixed block provided at the composite unit are extracted, to continuously circulate the desorbing liquid from the composite unit to the desorbing liquid unit.

18 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the extract liquid unit supplies the desorbing liquid supplied from the desorbing liquid unit to the composite unit and desorbs lithium ions to form the lithium extract liquid, but when the lithium extract liquid exceeds a predetermined standard concentration, the lithium extract-liquid is recovered and stored.

19 . The onshore lithium-recovering apparatus of claim 2 ,
wherein the discharge unit is provided as a seal pit to discharge the lithium-containing water from which lithium has been recovered in accordance with a fluid flow caused by gravity.

20 . A lithium-recovering method using an onshore lithium-recovering apparatus comprising the steps of:
(a) forming a fixed block, by molding a lithium manganese oxide; (b) disposing the fixed block within a plurality of conduits; (c) introducing a desorbing liquid into the plurality of conduits to extract and discharge lithium of the lithium manganese oxide and forming an ion-sieve-type manganese oxide adsorbent; (d) recovering the desorbing liquid containing lithium to circulate the desorbing liquid to the plurality of conduits; (e) determining whether the fixed block has been changed to an

Assignees

• Korea Inst Geoscience & Mineral Resources

Inventors

• Chung Kang-Sup
• Kim Byung-Gyu
• Ryu Tae-Gong
• Park In-Su
• Hong Hye-Jin

Classifications

• B01J39/10

  Oxides or hydroxides · CPC title

• C22B3/205

  using adducts or inclusion complexes · CPC title

• B01J20/3007

  Moulding, shaping or extruding · CPC title

• B01D15/362

  Cation-exchange · CPC title

• C22B3/42

  by ion-exchange extraction · CPC title