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Potential Processes for Producing High-Purity Lithium Hydroxide: A Critical Review

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Proceedings of the 61st Conference of Metallurgists, COM 2022 (COM 2022)

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Abstract.

Demand of high-purity lithium hydroxide (LiOH) has increased significantly with the rapid advancement of lithium batteries for clean technologies and energy storage. Lithium hydroxide is commercially produced by the addition of lime into lithium carbonate. While this process produces a low concentration of LiOH, a significant amount of lithium is lost. To overcome these limitations, substantial studies have been conducted to develop new technologies to produce battery-grade LiOH from lithium sulfate and chloride solutions by causticization and membrane electrolysis. Furthermore, the membrane electrolysis processes have been shown to be a promising new technology for battery-grade LiOH production. Therefore, this paper reviews these technologies with emphasis on the process chemistry, key flowsheets, and challenges and potential improvement opportunities of the technologies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Process Research Ortech Inc., Mississauga, ON, Canada

    M. A. Halim, V. I. Lakshmanan, J. Chen, S. Kumar & S. DasGupta

  2. United Lithium Corp., Vancouver, BC, Canada

    M. Dehn

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  1. M. A. Halim
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  2. V. I. Lakshmanan
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  3. J. Chen
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  4. S. Kumar
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  5. S. DasGupta
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  6. M. Dehn
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Correspondence to M. A. Halim .

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    Halim, M.A., Lakshmanan, V.I., Chen, J., Kumar, S., DasGupta, S., Dehn, M. (2023). Potential Processes for Producing High-Purity Lithium Hydroxide: A Critical Review. In: Proceedings of the 61st Conference of Metallurgists, COM 2022. COM 2022. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17425-4_78

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