Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Brine Using Electrodialysis Method

Abstract

The global market share of electric vehicles is expected to increase significantly. The lithium-ion battery is one type of battery that can power electric vehicles because light, inexpensive, has a high energy density, and has a long service life. Lithium may be obtained economically from hard rock ores and brines. Indonesia has a huge geothermal potential and lithium concentration in geothermal brine can reach 70 mg L−1. With the high concentration of lithium in brine, this is a great opportunity for Indonesia to produce lithium independently. The separation of lithium from brine can be separated by various methods. One method that has high effectiveness is by using the electrodialysis method. This study will extract lithium from geothermal brine with the electrodialysis method using monovalent membranes. Anion exchange membrane (AEM) and cation exchange membrane (CEM) are used in this system. The recovery solution to collect lithium from brine is HCl 0,1 M. We variate the voltages (2 volt and 3 volts) to see the effect on flux and conductivity. From the experiment, the 3 volts give more flux and conductivity than the 2 volts. The 3 volts has 10 mL cm−2 h−1 of flux and 2110 μS cm−1 of conductivity while the 2 volts has 4 mL cm−2 h−1 of flux and 1770 μS cm−1 of conductivity. The higher voltages given to the system, the easier separation can be done.