Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide
Lithium resources face risks of shortages owing to the rapid development of the lithium industry. This makes the efficient production and recycling of lithium an issue that should be addressed immediately. Lithium bromide is widely used as a water-absorbent material, a humidity regulator, and an abs...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Membranes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/11/10/759 |
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| author | Wenjie Gao Xinlai Wei Jun Chen Jie Jin Ke Wu Wenwen Meng Keke Wang |
| author_facet | Wenjie Gao Xinlai Wei Jun Chen Jie Jin Ke Wu Wenwen Meng Keke Wang |
| author_sort | Wenjie Gao |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Lithium resources face risks of shortages owing to the rapid development of the lithium industry. This makes the efficient production and recycling of lithium an issue that should be addressed immediately. Lithium bromide is widely used as a water-absorbent material, a humidity regulator, and an absorption refrigerant in the industry. However, there are few studies on the recovery of lithium from lithium bromide after disposal. In this paper, a bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) process is proposed to convert waste lithium bromide into lithium hydroxide, with the generation of valuable hydrobromic acid as a by-product. The effects of the current density, the feed salt concentration, and the initial salt chamber volume on the performance of the BMED process were studied. When the reaction conditions were optimized, it was concluded that an initial salt chamber volume of 200 mL and a salt concentration of 0.3 mol/L provided the maximum benefit. A high current density leads to high energy consumption but with high current efficiency; therefore, the optimum current density was identified as 30 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>. Under the optimized conditions, the total economic cost of the BMED process was calculated as 2.243 USD·kg<sup>−1</sup>LiOH. As well as solving the problem of recycling waste lithium bromide, the process also represents a novel production methodology for lithium hydroxide. Given the prices of lithium hydroxide and hydrobromic acid, the process is both environmentally friendly and economical. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:24:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b1039f68ba1148fbb121dce5b2428e22 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-0375 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:24:18Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Membranes |
| spelling | doaj.art-b1039f68ba1148fbb121dce5b2428e222023-11-22T19:06:11ZengMDPI AGMembranes2077-03752021-09-01111075910.3390/membranes11100759Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium HydroxideWenjie Gao0Xinlai Wei1Jun Chen2Jie Jin3Ke Wu4Wenwen Meng5Keke Wang6Collaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center for Environmental Pollution Control and Ecological Restoration of Anhui Province, School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230601, ChinaLithium resources face risks of shortages owing to the rapid development of the lithium industry. This makes the efficient production and recycling of lithium an issue that should be addressed immediately. Lithium bromide is widely used as a water-absorbent material, a humidity regulator, and an absorption refrigerant in the industry. However, there are few studies on the recovery of lithium from lithium bromide after disposal. In this paper, a bipolar membrane electrodialysis (BMED) process is proposed to convert waste lithium bromide into lithium hydroxide, with the generation of valuable hydrobromic acid as a by-product. The effects of the current density, the feed salt concentration, and the initial salt chamber volume on the performance of the BMED process were studied. When the reaction conditions were optimized, it was concluded that an initial salt chamber volume of 200 mL and a salt concentration of 0.3 mol/L provided the maximum benefit. A high current density leads to high energy consumption but with high current efficiency; therefore, the optimum current density was identified as 30 mA/cm<sup>2</sup>. Under the optimized conditions, the total economic cost of the BMED process was calculated as 2.243 USD·kg<sup>−1</sup>LiOH. As well as solving the problem of recycling waste lithium bromide, the process also represents a novel production methodology for lithium hydroxide. Given the prices of lithium hydroxide and hydrobromic acid, the process is both environmentally friendly and economical.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/11/10/759lithium bromideBMEDrecoveryLiOHclean production |
| spellingShingle | Wenjie Gao Xinlai Wei Jun Chen Jie Jin Ke Wu Wenwen Meng Keke Wang Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide Membranes lithium bromide BMED recovery LiOH clean production |
| title | Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide |
| title_full | Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide |
| title_fullStr | Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide |
| title_full_unstemmed | Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide |
| title_short | Recycling Lithium from Waste Lithium Bromide to Produce Lithium Hydroxide |
| title_sort | recycling lithium from waste lithium bromide to produce lithium hydroxide |
| topic | lithium bromide BMED recovery LiOH clean production |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/11/10/759 |
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