Selective Recovery of Lithium from Brines

Abstract

Expansion of geothermal energy production over the entire U.S. will involve exploitation of low-to-medium temperature thermal waters. Creating value streams from the recovery of metals, such as lithium, will encourage geothermal expansion. We describe a lithium solid-phase extraction process based on a new, highly selective, low-cost, and reusable nanocomposite sorbent comprising of lithium ion sieve nanoparticles and a lithium-imprinted polymer. The sorbent is processed in the form of beads and tested in flow-through columns. When the brine contacts the sorbent, Li ions are selectively captured and concentrated in the sorbent. The lithium uptake capacity, selectivity, and kinetics of the nanocomposite will be discussed.