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Sun K, Tebyetekerwa M, Zeng X, Wang Z, Duignan TT, Zhang X. Understanding the Electrochemical Extraction of Lithium from Ultradilute Solutions. Environ Sci Technol 2024; 58:3997-4007. [PMID: 38366979 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c09111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/19/2024]
Abstract
The electrochemical extraction of lithium (Li) from aqueous sources using electrochemical means is a promising direct Li extraction technology. However, to this date, most electrochemical Li extraction studies are confined to Li-rich brine, neglecting the practical and existing Li-lean resources, with their overall extraction behaviors currently not fully understood. More still, the effect of elevated sodium (Na) concentrations typically found in most Li-lean water sources on Li extraction is unclear. Hence, in this work, we first understand the electrochemical Li extraction behaviors from ultradilute solutions using spinel lithium manganese oxide as the model electrode. We discovered that Li extraction depends highly on the Li concentration and cell operation current density. Then, we switched our focus on low Li to Na ratio solutions, revealing that Na can dominate the electrostatic screening layer, reducing Li ion concentration. Based on these understandings, we rationally employed pulsed electrochemical operation to restructure the electrode surface and distribute the surface-adsorbed species, which efficiently achieves a high Li selectivity even in extremely low initial Li/Na concentrations of up to 1:20,000.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kaige Sun
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Mike Tebyetekerwa
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Xiangkang Zeng
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Zhuyuan Wang
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Timothy T Duignan
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
- Queensland Micro and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4011, Australia
| | - Xiwang Zhang
- Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
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Wang S, Yu X, Hu X. Electrochemical Lithium Extraction with Gas Flushing of Porous Electrodes. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2023; 13:nano13091471. [PMID: 37177016 PMCID: PMC10179911 DOI: 10.3390/nano13091471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Electrochemical extraction of lithium from seawater/brine is receiving more and more attention because of its environment-friendly and energy-saving features. In this work, an electrochemical lithium extraction system with gas flushing of porous electrodes is proposed. We verified that the operation of multiple gas washes can significantly reduce the consumption of ultrapure water during the solution exchange and save the time required for the continuous running of the system. The water consumption of multiple gas flush operations is only 1/60 of that of a normal single flush to obtain a purity close to 100% in the recovery solution. By comparing the ion concentration distribution on the electrode surface in flow-through and flow-by-flow modes, we demonstrate that the flow-through mode performs better. We also verified the lithium extraction performance of the whole system, achieving a purity close to 100% and average energy consumption of 0.732 kWh∙kg-1 in each cycle from the source solution of the simulated Atacama salt lake water. These results provide a feasible approach for the large-scale operation of electrochemical lithium extraction from seawater/brine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shengyao Wang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Xuyu Yu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Xuejiao Hu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
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