Capillary electrophoresis analysis of lithium in brine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2025092489-A1
Application number	US-202218293525-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 1, 2022
Priority date	Jul 30, 2021
Publication date	Mar 20, 2025
Grant date	—

Abstract

Capillary electrophoresis is used to monitor concentration of components in streams of a lithium recovery process.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method of recovering lithium from a lithium source, comprising:
withdrawing lithium from the lithium source using an ion withdrawal stage to form an eluate and a lithium-depleted stream; and monitoring concentration of one or more components in any or all of the lithium source, the eluate, and the lithium-depleted stream using a capillary electrophoresis instrument.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more components includes lithium.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more components further includes a non-lithium component.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ion withdrawal stage uses a lithium-selective absorbent medium to absorb lithium from the lithium source, and an eluent removes lithium from the absorbent medium to form the eluate.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the capillary electrophoresis instrument is a first capillary electrophoresis instrument, and further comprising;
converting lithium in the eluate from one form to another in a conversion stage to form a lithium product; and monitoring concentration of one or more components in the lithium product using a second capillary electrophoresis instrument.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring concentration of one or more components in any or all of the lithium source, the eluate, and the lithium-depleted stream using a capillary electrophoresis instrument comprises preparing a sample using an automated sampling system and providing the sample to the capillary electrophoresis instrument using the automated sampling system.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the capillary electrophoresis instrument is coupled to the lithium source, the eluate, the lithium-depleted stream, or a combination thereof.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting an operating parameter of the ion withdrawal stage based on a signal from the capillary electrophoresis instrument.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the operating parameter is a pH, a temperature, a pressure, a processing time, a cycle time, a flow rate, or a stream split of the ion withdrawal stage.

10 . A method of recovering lithium from a lithium source, comprising:
extracting lithium from the lithium source using an absorption/desorption process to form a lithium extract; processing the lithium extract using a concentrator to form a lithium concentrate; recycling a process stream from the concentrator to the absorption/desorption process; and monitoring lithium concentration in the lithium concentrate, the process stream, or both using a capillary electrophoresis instrument.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the absorption/desorption process forms a lithium-depleted stream, and the capillary electrophoresis instrument is also used to monitor lithium concentration in the lithium-depleted stream, the lithium extract, or both.

12 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising monitoring concentration of a non-lithium component in the lithium concentrate, the process stream, or both using the capillary electrophoresis instrument.

13 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the absorption/desorption process forms a lithium-depleted stream, and the capillary electrophoresis instrument is also used to monitor lithium concentration and concentration of a non-lithium component in the lithium-depleted stream, the lithium extract, or both.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the capillary electrophoresis instrument is a first capillary electrophoresis instrument, and further comprising converting lithium in the lithium concentrate from one form to another using a conversion stage to form a lithium product and monitoring concentration of one or more components in the lithium product using a second capillary electrophoresis instrument.

15 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising using an automated sampling system to prepare a sample for analysis using the capillary electrophoresis instrument.

16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising adjusting an operating parameter of the absorption/desorption process, the concentrator, or both based on a signal from the capillary electrophoresis instrument.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the operating parameter is a pH, a temperature, a pressure, a process time, a cycle time, a flow rate, or a stream split of the absorption/desorption process, the concentrator, or both.

18 . A method of recovering lithium from a lithium source, comprising:
performing a plurality of sequential transformations, each transformation converting an input derived from the lithium source into an output containing lithium and a byproduct, the sequential transformations including an ion withdrawal process; and monitoring a concentration of one or more components in one or more inputs, outputs, or byproducts using one or more capillary electrophoresis instruments.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of sequential transformations further includes one or more of:
an impurity removal process; a lithium concentration process; a lithium conversion process.

20 . The method of claim 18 , including adjusting an operating parameter of one or more of the sequential transformations based on a signal from the one or more capillary electrophoresis instruments.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Mahavadi Sharath Chandra
• Perroni Dominic Vincent
• Feng Ling
• Shampine Rod William
• Jariwala Ankur D

Classifications

• C25B7/00

  Electrophoretic production of compounds or non-metals (separation or purification of peptides, e.g. of proteins, by electrophoresis C07K1/26) · CPC title

• C22B3/42

  by ion-exchange extraction · CPC title

• C01D15/02

  Oxides; Hydroxides · CPC title

• B01D15/362

  Cation-exchange · CPC title

• B01D11/0488

  Flow sheets · CPC title