IP Library Granted Patent US 12,264,382
Granted Patent B2
US 12,264,382 · App. 17/576,348 · Granted Apr 1, 2025

Method for extracting lithium using resin adsorbent to pretreat low-grade deep brines

Inventors: Yuqing Zhao (Qinghai Province, CN); Yongpeng Ying (Qinghai Province, CN); Xin Xiong (Qinghai Province, CN); Hongshu Fang (Qinghai Province, CN); He Jiao (Qinghai Province, CN); Liping Wu (Qinghai Province, CN); Fang Jin (Qinghai Province, CN); Dao Liu (Qinghai Province, CN); Haiming Li (Qinghai Province, CN)
Assignee: Qinghai Geological and Mineral Testing Center
C22B3/42C22B26/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,264,382
App. No.
17/576,348
Granted
Apr 1, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method for extracting lithium using a resin adsorbent to pretreat low-grade deep brine, which relates to the technical field of lithium extraction from brine. In the present disclosure, resin adsorbent is used to perform adsorption pretreatment on the concentrated brine, which can adsorb organic impurities in the concentrated brine without adsorbing lithium ions, so that the concentration of lithium ions is almost unchanged compared with the feed material, with the subsequent manganese-based lithium adsorbent, the adsorption rate of lithium can be increased by 41%; At the same time, pretreating the concentrated brine using resin adsorbents has shorter steps, less materials, and does not produce a large amount of low-value product gypsum, which makes the lithium extraction process simpler and easier to operate, and reduces production costs.

Claims (25)

1. A method for extracting lithium using a resin adsorbent to pretreat low-grade deep brines, including the following steps:

(1) concentrating a low-grade deep brine to obtain a concentrated brine;

(2) subjecting the concentrated brine obtained in step (1) to a first adsorption with a resin adsorbent to obtain a lithium extraction mother liquor;

(3) subjecting the lithium extraction mother liquor obtained in step (2) to a secondary adsorption with a manganese-based lithium adsorbent to obtain an adsorbed manganese-based lithium adsorbent;

(4) desorbing the adsorbed manganese-based lithium adsorbent obtained in step (3) using a desorbent to obtain a lithium precipitation mother liquor;

(5) sequentially subjecting the lithium precipitation mother liquor obtained in step (4) to impurity removal, concentration by evaporation, and lithium precipitation with sodium carbonate to obtain lithium carbonate.

2. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the low-grade deep brine in step (1) is chloride-type deep brine.

3. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein in step (1), the magnesium-lithium ratio of the low-grade deep brine is 30-50, and the calcium-lithium ratio of the low-grade deep brine is 100-300.

4. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 2 , wherein in step (1), the magnesium-lithium ratio of the low-grade deep brine is 30-50, and the calcium-lithium ratio of the low-grade deep brine is 100-300.

5. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the low-grade deep brine in step (1) includes the following components in mass percentage: 0.04-0.05% of K, 3.0-4.0% of Na, 0.5-0.6% of Ca, 0.08-0.09% of Mg, 0.002-0.003% of Li, 6.5-7.0% of Cl, other impurities and the balance of water.

6. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 2 , wherein the low-grade deep brine in step (1) includes the following components in mass percentage: 0.04-0.05% of K, 3.0-4.0% of Na, 0.5-0.6% of Ca, 0.08-0.09% of Mg, 0.002-0.003% of Li, 6.5-7.0% of Cl, other impurities and the balance of water.

7. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the concentration multiple in step (1) is 9 times.

8. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the resin adsorbent in step (2) is ion exchange resin D301 or ion exchange resin CR20.

9. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the mass of resin adsorbent to the volume of concentrated brine in step (2) is 1 g: (5-10) mL.

10. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the time of the first adsorption in step (2) is 2-5 h.

11. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the product of the first adsorption in step (2) further comprises a saturated resin adsorbent.

12. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 11 , wherein the saturated resin adsorbent is sequentially subjected to desorption and regeneration to obtain a resin adsorbent.

13. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 12 , wherein the resin adsorbent is used for the first adsorption of concentrated brine in step (2).

14. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the manganese-based lithium adsorbent in step (3) is TMS1.0 manganese-based lithium adsorbent.

15. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the mass of the manganese-based lithium adsorbent to the volume of the lithium extraction mother liquor in step (3) is 1 g: (20-35) mL.

16. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the time of the secondary adsorption in step (3) is 40-100 min.

17. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the desorbent in step (4) is a sulfuric acid solution with a concentration of 0.05-0.15 mol/L.

18. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the mass of the adsorbed manganese-based lithium adsorbent to the volume of the desorbent in step (4) is 1 g: (15-30) mL.

19. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the desorption time in step (4) is 5-30 min.

20. The method for extracting lithium according to claim 1 , wherein the manganese-based lithium adsorbent desorbed in step (4) is washed and used again for the secondary adsorption of the lithium extraction mother liquor in step (3).

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 26, 2023
From: QINGHAI GEOLOGICAL AND MINERAL TESTING CENTER (QINGHAI PROVINCE ECO-ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY INSPECTION AND TESTING CENTER)
To: QINGHAI GEOLOGICAL AND MINERAL TESTING CENTER
Reel/Frame 065024/0363 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 14, 2022
From: ZHAO, YUQING; YING, YONGPENG; XIONG, XIN; FANG, HONGSHU; JIAO, HE; WU, LIPING; JIN, FANG; LIU, DAO; LI, HAIMING
To: QINGHAI GEOLOGICAL AND MINERAL TESTING CENTER (QINGHAI PROVINCE ECO-ENVIRONMENTAL GEOLOGY INSPECTION AND TESTING CENTER)
Reel/Frame 058663/0502 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230227937A1 · Jul 20, 2023
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