Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2021 number 3

Results of fundamental research carried out at the Institute of Solid State Chemistry and Mechanochemistry SB RAS on the development of technologies for extracting lithium from both mining and hydromineral raw materials are presented. In the 50s of the last century, the Institute was the first in Russia to develop a technology for processing spodumene concentrate to obtain lithium compounds. In order to develop a technology for extracting lithium from hydromineral raw materials, the processes of lithium chloride intercalation into the crystal structure of aluminium hydroxide have been studied. It has been shown that the intercalation process is accelerated when disordered Al(OH)₃ is used. In order to create a technology for extracting lithium from brines, double compounds of aluminium and lithium were obtained using amorphous aluminium hydroxide. These compounds possess the ability to partially deintercalate lithium chloride when treated with water and to restore the composition again in lithium-containing salt media. This reversible process is the basis for the development of a selective sorbent for the sorption of lithium chloride from highly mineralized multicomponent brines.