Assessing the Viability of Integrating Evaporation and Solvent Extraction Systems for Lithium Recovery from Low-Grade Brines

Abstract

In recent years, the demand for lithium, essential to the high-tech and battery sectors, has increased rapidly. The majority of lithium carbonate is now sourced from continental brines in Latin America, owing to the lower production costs and reduced environmental impact. In Europe, often overlooked but promising lithium resources could include highly mineralized underground waters. Therefore, this study investigates the enrichment of these low-grade solutions (<100 mg/L Li) through evaporation followed by solvent extraction (SX) processes under specific conditions. The effectiveness and the technical feasibility of lithium extraction were evaluated using binary synthetic, multicomponent semi-synthetic, and real brine samples. The popular tributyl phosphate/methyl isobutyl ketone (TBP/MIBK) system, supplemented with FeCl3 and AlCl3 as co-extractants, was employed as the organic phase. Evaporation resulted in significant lithium losses (up to 80%), reduced to ~10% by washing the crystallisate obtained during evaporation with ethanol. The results from SX tests revealed differences between the synthetic and real brines. While the synthetic brines exhibited satisfactory lithium extraction yields (91%), the real brines showed a significantly lower extraction efficiency (~32%), rendering the tested system ineffective. Solid phase precipitation during the SX trials was observed for both the synthetic and real brines, which were concentrated before the SX stage, highlighting the challenges in lithium-recovery processes. However, semi-synthetic brine trials yielded promising results, with a satisfactory extraction efficiency (76%), and the absence of physical problems (emulsion, long disengagement, etc.). This reveals the importance of the chemical composition of brines and emphasizes the need for varied procedural approaches in lithium-recovery processes.