Abstract
The object of this investigation was to determine an economical method of preparing pure lithium hydroxide from a mercury-contaminated lithium hydroxide monohydrate salt presently produced as a waste product. Pure lithium hydroxide has application for chemical removal of carbon dioxide from air and general open market sale if the mercury contamination is reduced to approximately one part per billion. Because of the uncertainty of the form of the mercury contaminant, different purification methods were explored on a laboratory scale which could be applied to the industrial waste stream. The experimental results indicate that the predominant mercury contaminant existed as mercuric oxide, which was deposited in the by-product salt when the solubility of mercuric oxide, 60 ppm, was exceeded in aqueous lithium hydroxide solution. To purify a fraction of the industrial by-product salt, a crystallization system, utilizing the difference in solubility of lithium hydroxide and mercuric oxide, is proposed. Total stream purification, using sulfide treatment, is expected to be less effective than recrystallization due to the difficulty in physical removal of the mercury contaminant, as mercuric sulfide, from solution.
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