Lithium recovery using aqueous sources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023366062-A1
Application number	US-202318311956-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 4, 2023
Priority date	May 4, 2022
Publication date	Nov 16, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

Described herein are methods of recovering lithium from dilute lithium sources. The methods include concentrating a dilute aqueous lithium source to yield an extraction feed having an extraction lithium concentration; extracting lithium from the extraction feed using direct lithium extraction in an extraction stage to yield a lithium intermediate; concentrating a stream obtained from the lithium intermediate in a concentration stage to yield a lithium concentrate; and converting lithium in the lithium concentrate to lithium hydroxide.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method of recovering lithium from a lithium source, comprising:
concentrating an aqueous lithium source in a feed preparation stage to yield an extraction feed having an extraction lithium concentration; and extracting lithium from the extraction feed, or a derivative thereof, using direct lithium extraction in an extraction stage.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein extracting lithium from the extraction feed using direct lithium extraction in an extraction stage yields a lithium intermediate, and further comprising concentrating a stream obtained from the lithium intermediate in a post-extraction concentration stage to yield a lithium concentrate.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising removing impurities from the lithium intermediate, or a derivative thereof, in an impurity stage to yield a purified lithium stream.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further including concentrating the lithium intermediate, or a derivative thereof, in an impurity preparation stage to yield an impurity stage feed, wherein concentrating the lithium intermediate, or a derivative thereof, comprises increasing concentration of one or more impurities to at least 90% of the solubility limit of the one or more impurities in the lithium intermediate, or the derivative thereof, wherein the impurity stage feed, or a derivative thereof, is routed to the impurity stage.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the feed preparation stage further comprises performing a purification process on the aqueous lithium source or the extraction feed or a derivative thereof.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous lithium source is a purified preconcentrated extraction feed, wherein the feed preparation stage further comprises concentrating a input source to yield a preconcentrated extraction feed in a first concentration process, performing the purification process on the preconcentrated extraction feed to yield a purified preconcentrated extraction feed, wherein concentrating the aqueous lithium uses a second concentration process to yield the extraction feed.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first concentration process is a reverse osmosis process and the second concentration process is a counter-flow reverse osmosis process.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein concentrating the aqueous source comprises at least one of a membrane separation operation, mechanical evaporation or enhanced evaporation.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the at least one membrane separation operation comprises a counter-flow reverse osmosis process.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the counter-flow reverse osmosis process comprises flowing a stream to be concentrated into a plurality of units in series, each unit having a semi-permeable membrane defining a first volume where non-permeating material collects and a second volume where permeating material collects, wherein material from the first volume of a first unit is routed to the first volume of a second unit in series with the first unit, and material from the second volume of the first unit is routed to a third unit in series with the first unit in a counter-flow direction with the material from the first volume.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein a concentrated stream is recovered from the first volume of a last unit in series of the plurality of units and a dilute stream is recovered from the second volume of a first unit in series of the plurality of units.

12 . The method of any claim 8 , wherein the at least one membrane separation operation comprises a reverse osmosis operation on the aqueous lithium source to yield a preconcentrated stream and a counter-flow reverse osmosis operation on the preconcentrated stream, or a derivative thereof, to yield the extraction feed.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the reverse osmosis operation yields the preconcentrated stream and a low TDS stream, and wherein the low TDS stream is recycled in the extraction stage, optionally as the recovery fluid.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the extraction stage comprises a lithium selective electrochemical separation process.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining one or more removed streams in at least one of the feed preparation stage, impurity preparation stage, impurity stage, or post-extraction concentration stage, and recycling the one or more removed streams into one of the aqueous lithium source, extraction feed, lithium intermediate, impurity stage feed or purified lithium stream to control the concentration of lithium or to control a ratio of lithium ions to impurity ions.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein direct lithium extraction includes withdrawing lithium ions from the extraction feed or derivative thereof to a withdrawal medium and recovering lithium ions from the withdrawal medium using a recovery fluid.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein direct lithium extraction includes withdrawing lithium ions from the extraction feed or derivative thereof to a withdrawal medium and recovering lithium ions from the withdrawal medium using a recovery fluid and wherein the one or more removed streams are recycled into the recovery fluid.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method includes converting lithium in the lithium intermediate or a derivative thereof to a lithium product.

19 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the purification process includes at least one of impurity precipitation, solids removal and divalent impurity selective removal.

20 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the purification process includes at least one of impurity precipitation, solids removal and divalent impurity selective removal.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Sams Gary W
• Perroni Dominic Vincent
• Nirgudkar Prasanna
• Binet Florence
• Shampine Rod William
• Verma Sandeep
• Zhang Wenlin

Classifications

• C22B3/24

  by adsorption on solid substances, e.g. by extraction with solid resins · CPC title

• B01D2317/02

  Elements in series · CPC title

• B01D2315/24

  Counter-current operation · CPC title

• B01D2311/263

  Chemical reaction · CPC title

• B01D2311/26

  Further operations combined with membrane separation processes · CPC title