Production of lithium compounds directly from lithium containing brines

1. A continuous process for directly preparing high purity lithium carbonate from lithium containing brines comprising:

preparing a brine containing about 6.0 wt % lithium and further containing other ions naturally occurring in brines;

adding mother liquor containing carbonate from a prior precipitation step to precipitate magnesium as magnesium carbonate;

adding a solution of CaO and sodium carbonate to remove calcium and residual magnesium;

precipitating lithium carbonate from the purified brine by adding soda ash solution;

filtering the resultant solution to obtain solid lithium carbonate;

preparing an aqueous slurry of the lithium carbonate in a reactor equipped with an inlet for introducing carbon dioxide gas and introducing carbon dioxide gas through the inlet into said aqueous slurry to form an aqueous lithium bicarbonate solution, the reactor being at a temperature from at least minus 10 to 40° C.;

passing said aqueous lithium bicarbonate solution through a filter to clarify the solution and optionally an ion exchange column for further calcium and magnesium removal;

introducing said filtered lithium bicarbonate solution into a second reactor and adjusting the temperature of the solution to from 60–100° C. to precipitate ultra-pure lithium carbonate with sodium less than 0.0002 wt %, calcium less than 0.00007 wt % and magnesium less than 0.00001 wt %.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the lithium bicarbonate is only passed through a filter and proceeding to the second reactor at 60–100° C. to precipitate low sodium lithium carbonate with a sodium content of less than 0.0002 wt %.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temperature in the reactor is from 0–35° C., and the temperature of the reactor for precipitating high purity lithium carbonate is from 70–95° C.

4. A continuous process for directly preparing high purity lithium carbonate from lithium containing brines comprising:

preparing a brine containing about 6.0 wt % lithium and further containing other ions naturally occurring in brines;

adding CaO to remove magnesium;

adding mother liquor containing carbonate from a prior precipitation step and soda ash solution to precipitate calcium carbonate;

filtering to remove calcium carbonate and to yield a purified lithium containing brine;

adding soda ash to said purified brine to precipitate lithium carbonate;

filtering the solution to recover the precipitated lithium carbonate,

preparing an aqueous lithium carbonate slurry in a reactor where such reactor is equipped with an inlet for introducing carbon dioxide gas and introducing carbon dioxide gas through the inlet into the lithium carbonate slurry to produce an aqueous lithium bicarbonate solution, wherein the reactor is at a temperature from at least minus 10 to +40° C.;

passing the aqueous lithium bicarbonate solution through a clarifying filter and optionally an ion exchange column for further calcium and magnesium removal;

introducing the filtered solution into a second reactor and adjusting the temperature of the solution to from 60–100° C. to precipitate the ultra-pure lithium carbonate with sodium less than 0.0002 wt %, calcium less than 0.00007 wt % and magnesium less than 0.00001 wt %.

5. The process of claim 4 wherein the lithium bicarbonate is only passed through a filter and proceeding to the second reactor at 60–100° C. to precipitate low sodium lithium carbonate with a sodium content of less than 0.0002 wt %.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the temperature in the reactor is 0–35° C., and the temperature of the reactor for precipitating high purity lithium carbonate is from 70–95° C.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the method is conducted at less than or equal to atmospheric pressure.

8. High purity lithium carbonate, comprising less than 20 ppm sodium as an impurity.

9. High purity lithium carbonate, comprising less than 2 ppm sodium as an impurity.

10. Purified lithium carbonate comprising:

greater than 99.4 wt. % Li 2 CO 3 ;

less than 0.0007 wt. % Mg;

less than 0.0010 wt. % Na;

less than 0.00025 wt. % K;

less than 0.0120 wt. % Ca;

less than 0.0001 wt. % B;

less than 0.0002 wt. % Al;

less than 0.0001 wt. % As;

less than 0.0001 wt. % Fe;

less than 0.0010 wt. % Si;

less than 0.00005 wt. % Zn;

less than 0.037 wt. % SO 4 ; and

less than 0.005 wt. % Cl.

11. Purified lithium carbonate comprising:

greater than 99.995 wt. % Li 2 CO 3 ;

less than 0.00001 wt. % Mg;

less than 0.0002 wt. % Na;

less than 0.00015 wt. % K;

less than 0.00007 wt. % Ca;

less than 0.0001 wt. % B;

less than 0.0002 wt. % Al;

less than 0.0001 wt. % As;

less than 0.0001 wt. % Fe;

less than 0.00011 wt. % Si;

less than 0.000014 wt. % Zn;

less than 0.0030 wt. % SO 4 ; and

less than 0.005 wt. % Cl.