PROCESO PARA LA RECUPERACION DE LITIO

• Main Authors: DUPONT, David, OOSTERHOF, Harald, DROUARD, Wendy
• Format: Patent
• Language: Spanish
• Published: 12.12.2019
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; METALLURGY; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS; PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS

La presente invencion se relaciona con un proceso mejorado para la recuperacion de litio de las composiciones que tambien contienen aluminio. Un ejemplo de dichas composiciones metalurgicas es la escoria metalurgica que se obtiene al reciclar baterias de iones de litio o sus productos derivados usando un proceso de fundicion piro metalurgico. La lixiviacion acida de dicha escoria, seguida por neutralizacion para precipitar aluminio conduce a bajos rendimientos de litio ya que el litio tiende a co-precipitarse con el aluminio. Se presenta un proceso en donde el aluminio se precipita selectivamente usando una fuente de fosfato a un pH controlado preferiblemente entre 3 y 4. The present invention relates to an enhanced process for the recovery of lithium from compositions also containing aluminum. An example of such a metallurgical compositions is the metallurgical slag that is obtained when recycling lithium-ion batteries or their derived products using a pyrometallurgical smelting process. Acid leaching of such a slag, followed by neutralization to precipitate aluminum leads to poor lithium yields as lithium tends to co-precipitate with aluminum. A process is presented wherein aluminum is selectively precipitated using a source of phosphate at a controlled pH preferably between 3 and 4.