Lithium extraction improvements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022055910-A1
Application number	US-202117444072-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 30, 2021
Priority date	Aug 21, 2020
Publication date	Feb 24, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method of recovering lithium from an aqueous source is described. Lithium is extracted from the aqueous source using a sorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract. Impurities are removed from the lithium extract to form a purified lithium extract, and the purified lithium extract is concentrated using a water removal process to form a lithium concentrate. The lithium concentrate is then converted to one or more of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to form a converted stream. Various streams, including some lithium-containing streams, are recycled to the sorption/desorption process.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method of recovering lithium from an aqueous source, comprising:
extracting lithium from the aqueous source using an sorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract; concentrating the lithium extract using a water removal process to form a lithium concentrate and a first water stream; converting lithium in the lithium concentrate to one or more of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to form a product stream and one or more second water streams; and recycling at least a portion of one or more of the lithium extract, the lithium concentrate, the first water stream, or the one or more second water streams to the sorption/desorption process.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein recycling at least a portion of one or more of the lithium extract, the lithium concentrate, the first water stream, or the one or more second water streams to the sorption/desorption process includes controlling composition of the recycled stream to a target composition.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising recovering water from a lithium-depleted brine obtained from the sorption/desorption process and recycling the recovered water to the sorption/desorption process.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sorption/desorption process is performed in a plurality of adsorption stages, and removing impurities is performed between two of the adsorption stages.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the sorption/desorption process includes a first sorption/desorption process and a second sorption/desorption process, and a lithium-depleted stream of the second sorption/desorption process is used as an eluent in the first sorption/desorption process.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising treating the aqueous source using a lithium-selective additive to remove impurities prior to performing the sorption/desorption process.

7 . The method of claim 4 , wherein each sorption/desorption stage yields a lithium-depleted brine, water is recovered from each lithium-depleted brine, and the recovered water is recycled to one or more of the sorption/desorption stages.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the water removal process is operated to maximize solution concentration of lithium in the lithium concentrate.

9 . The method of claim 3 , wherein recovering water from the lithium-depleted brine yields a concentrated brine stream that is returned to the aqueous source, and further comprising adding a lithium-selective additive to the concentrated brine stream prior to returning the concentrated brine stream to the aqueous source.

10 . A method of recovering lithium from an aqueous source, comprising:
extracting lithium from the aqueous source using a first sorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract; removing impurities from the lithium extract to form a purified lithium extract; concentrating the purified lithium extract using a second sorption/desorption process to form an intermediate lithium concentrate; concentrating the intermediate lithium concentrate using a water removal process to form a lithium concentrate and a first water stream; converting lithium in the lithium concentrate to one or more of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to form a product stream and one or more second water streams; and recycling at least a portion of one or more of the lithium concentrate, the first water stream, the one or more second water streams, or the purified lithium extract to the second sorption/desorption process.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the second sorption/desorption process produces a lithium-depleted stream, and further comprising using the lithium-depleted stream as an eluent to desorb lithium in the first sorption/desorption process.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein recycling at least a portion of one or more of the lithium concentrate, the first water stream, the one or more second water streams, or the purified lithium extract to the second sorption/desorption process includes controlling composition of the recycled stream to a target composition.

13 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising recovering water from a lithium-depleted brine obtained from the first sorption/desorption process and recycling the recovered water to the first sorption/desorption process, the second sorption/desorption process, or both.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising recycling a sweep stream of the water removal process to the second sorption/desorption process.

15 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising treating the aqueous source using a dilute acid to remove impurities prior to performing the sorption/desorption process.

16 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the water removal process is operated to maximize solution concentration of lithium in the lithium concentrate.

17 . The method of claim 13 , wherein recovering water from the lithium-depleted brine yields a concentrated brine stream that is returned to the aqueous source, and further comprising adding a dilute acid to the concentrated brine stream prior to returning the concentrated brine stream to the aqueous source.

18 . A method of recovering lithium from an aqueous source, comprising:
extracting lithium from the aqueous source using a first sorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract; removing impurities from the lithium extract to form a purified lithium extract; concentrating the purified lithium extract using a second sorption/desorption process to form an intermediate lithium concentrate; concentrating the intermediate lithium concentrate using a membrane separation process to form a lithium concentrate and a permeate stream; converting lithium in the lithium concentrate to one or more of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide to form a product stream and one or more water streams; recovering waste heat from converting the lithium in the lithium concentrate; and recycling at least a portion of one or more of the lithium concentrate, the permeate stream, the water streams, or the purified lithium extract to the second sorption/desorption process.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising recovering water from a lithium-depleted brine obtained from the first sorption/desorption process and recycling the recovered water to the first sorption/desorption process, the second sorption/desorption process, or both.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising treating the aqueous source using a lithium-selective additive to remove impurities prior to performing the sorption/desorption process.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Jariwala Ankur D
• Sams Gary W

Classifications

• C22B3/22

  by physical processes, e.g. by filtration, by magnetic means {, or by thermal decomposition} (treatment or purification of solutions by liquid-liquid extraction C22B3/26) · CPC title

• Y02P20/129

  Energy recovery, e.g. by cogeneration, H2recovery or pressure recovery turbines · CPC title

• C01D15/02

  Oxides; Hydroxides · CPC title

• C01D15/08 Primary

  Carbonates; Bicarbonates · CPC title

• B01D15/426 Primary

  Specific type of solvent · CPC title