Abstract
The lithium (Li) bearing minerals lepidolite and spodumene were mixed with different mass ratios of Na2SO4 and mechanically activated by milling in a planetary ball mill for 5 h. The milled samples were studied using thermogravimetry under an air atmosphere up to 950 ºC. Isothermal heating of the milled samples was undertaken in a furnace at temperatures of 700 ºC and 800 ºC for 1 h. Hot water leaching of the calcines indicated that increasing the calcination temperature had a significant effect on the dissolution of lithium. The leaching of lithium from lepidolite was notably higher than that from spodumene.
Highlights
Lithium is produced from variety of natural mineral sources
X-ray diffraction (XRD) results: The XRD traces of lepidolite concentrate before and after 5 h milling is shown in Figure 1, where the signs of two peaks in 2q ~14o and 2q ~16o are disappeared in the 5 h milled sample
The phase transition requires temperatures of ~900 oC or higher to occur with appreciable rates [1, 5,6]. These results suggest that the sulphation reaction may only occur after transformation to b-spodumene and a higher calcination temperature may be expected to give better lithium extractions
Summary
Lithium is produced from variety of natural mineral sources. The most abundant lithium containing rocks/ minerals are pegmatites, such as spodumene and petalite. Sulphation roasting of lepidolite ore and spodumene concentrate with Na2SO4 was investigated after milling the mixtures using a planetary ball mill. After isothermal heating the as-milled mixtures of lepidolite+Na2SO4 and spodumene+Na2SO4, were leached in hot water.
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