ICheaP-16, Naples (Italy) 21-24 May 2023

Eng. Federica Annunzi will be presenting the work on the “Recovery of lithium from brine by phosphate precipitation” at ICheaP-16, the 16th International Conference on Chemical and Process Engineering promoted by AIDIC, the Italian Association of Chemical Engineering, 21-24 May 2023 in Naples (Italy).

The work is part of the project “SE2030 – Sale Energetico”, founded by POR FESR Toscana 2014/2020, action 1.1.5 sub-action A1.

You can read the paper here: http://ow.ly/WJaG50Os82t

Consorzio Polo Tecnologico Magona | Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile e Industriale, Università di Pisa | Locatelli Saline Di Volterra Srl

Lithium is an alkali metal that offers excellent thermal and electrical conductivity. Its many compounds are abundantly used in the manufacturing of a wide variety of products, including: glass, ceramics, batteries, and refrigerants. Locatelli Saline di Volterra has shown interest in the process of recovering lithium from brine. They decided to collaborate with the CPTM research centre to identify a chemical process as selective as possible for extracting lithium from brines. In particular, the main goal is to recover lithium from the mother liquors obtained from the sodium salt production process (i.e. from a process effluent), fully in line with the dictates of the circular economy. The recovery process mentioned above is difficult due to the low concentration of lithium compared to the other elements. Recovering lithium in low concentration solutions is possible, however, by taking advantage of the low solubility of some of its salts. Precipitation of lithium phosphate from salt solution, with initial lithium concentrations around 200 ppm, yielded excellent results, showing a maximum lithium recovery yield of 84%. These results can be achieved operating at a temperature close to the boiling point of the solution (108°C), for a reaction time of 2 h and a PO₄/Li molar ratio of 0.91.