How is Lithium made?

Trace the history of lithium from 1800 mineral discoveries by Jose de de Andrade and Arfvedson to industrial production and modern uses in glass, ceramics, aluminum, polymers, and batteries.

Explore lithium properties as the third element with three protons, neutrons, and electrons and one valence electron in the alkaline metals; crust abundance is about 0.006%, roughly twice cobalt.

Observe lithium forms a Li carbonate layer in dry air and Li oxide in moist air; handle in dry or inert conditions and note hydrogen gas risk and extinguishing powders.

Explore lithium’s properties, including its status as least dense solid at room temperature, melting point 180°C, density 0.543 g/cm³ at 20°C, ionization energy 5.37 eV, and electropositive potential -3.024 V.

Explore lithium's uses in ceramics, glasses, pharmaceutics, lubricants, alloys, and batteries, and outline production from brines and ores to carbonate and chloride derivatives.

Discover how lithium powers batteries and cathodes like NMC and LCO, and identify its roles in ceramics, glasses, lubricants, air treatment, aluminum production, and pharmaceuticals.

Explore the lithium supply chain from deposits and brines to mineral concentrates and derived salts, including carbonate, hydroxide, chlorides, and organolithiums used in batteries, lubricants, steel, and advanced industries.

Explore lithium use across industries from 2000 to 2018, analyzing market shares and the rise of rechargeable batteries while ceramics, glass, and greases stay steady.

Explore fundamental geologic terminology, including minerals, rocks, ore deposits, and gangue, and learn how minerals form rocks and yield economically valuable ore.

Explore the main lithium sources, including granitic pegmatites with Spodumene and Petalite, continental brines in salars, geothermal brines, and sedimentary-hosted clay-type deposits with rectorate and Jadeite.

Explore the geochemistry of Lithium, its small ionic radius and limited substitution of larger alkali ions, showing why it concentrates in pegmatite and granitic rocks like rhyolite through differential crystallization.

Explore lithium abundance across types from ultramafic to felsic and pegmatites, highlighting higher Li in felsic rocks, with sandstone sediments to 216–2000 ppm, seawater at 117 ppb (14th most abundant).

Explore typical lithium minerals, noting that only about 10 minerals hold economic value, with spodumene as the primary focus and other examples like aluminum silicate and silicate phosphates.

Explore lithium deposits, resources, and reserves across Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, the United States, Australia, and China, and how brine and hard-rock mining shape production.

Explore lithium formation in brine deposits from evaporitic salt lakes and hydrothermal systems, highlighting closed basins, evaporation, leaching, and magnesium-related challenges in Salar de Atacama.

Examine lithium rock deposits focusing on spodumene minerals, alpha and beta forms, and the heat treatment needed to extract lithium, with concentrates used for glass and ceramic production.

Explore lithium production through an overview flow sheet, from mining and washing to filtration and concentration, then mineral conversion to carbonate or hydroxide with solar evaporation and precipitation.

Explore production processes for lithium, including cyclone filtration, ion exchange, precipitation, leaching, solvent extraction, and magnetic separation, and see how these methods apply to production.

Learn how crushing and screening reduce ore size and separate fractions by size and density, using cone crushers, gaps, mechanical screens, and flow sheet sequences.

Learn how a hydrocyclone separates large from small particles using centrifugal force, sending large particles to the wall and discharge while small particles stay in motion for collection.

Explore the principle of froth flotation with a water tank, particles, and surfactant molecules that cause minerals to float or sink, using sequential reagent changes in a circuit.

Explore filtration as a solid-liquid separation step in lithium production, using filtration paper to separate slurry, with liquid passing through and solids remaining, plus various filtration devices.

Explore ion exchange using a resin to swap calcium and iron in hard water for sodium, removing impurities and even exchanging sulfate to soften water.

Learn how precipitation converts dissolved compounds into solids to remove impurities, such as iron, from solutions by changing solubility with bases like sodium hydroxide, carbonates, or sulfides.

Learn how solvent extraction uses an organic solvent to separate target molecules from an aqueous solution, creating a dispersed organic phase, settling, and recovery through washing, stripping, and reuse.

Apply magnetic separation to distinguish iron-containing particles from non-ferrous material using a conveyor belt system. The iron-rich fraction is discharged for further processing.

Outline lithium production from spodumene, detailing mining, concentration, washing, filtration, and impurity removal, then describe mineral conversion to lithium carbonate or hydroxide and three processing approaches.

Explore crushing and screening workflows in lithium ore processing that reduce ore size with cone crushing, ball milling, and cyclones, and manage fine dust and 0.03 mm targets.

Carry out a multi-stage froth flotation to separate spodumene from gang material. Use flotation agents in alkaline or acidic media to remove quartz, feldspar, and wycoff as tailings.

Recover spodumene by washing away impurities, remove iron with magnetic separation, then filter and dry the concentrate in furnaces to reach oxide content around five to seven percent.

Process concentrated spodumene through mineral conversion to carbonate or hydroxide, highlighting acid hosting, slime hosting, and an exchange.

Master the acid-roasting flow sheet for lithium from spodumene or petalite, including sulfuric acid digestion, leaching and washing to remove impurities, and precipitation of lithium carbonate using sodium carbonate.

Learn how heating alpha spodumene converts it to beta spodumene, improving leaching by changing the crystal structure, typically in a furnace for about four hours, with optional grinding.

Learn acid-roasting and sulfuric acid digestion in lithium processing, including digestion at around 250 degrees, furnace lining requirements, and handling hot sulfuric acid and CO2 gases.

Describe acid-roasting leaching in lithium production, where salt water in steel tanks dissolves sulfates while silicate impurities remain undissolved through several tanks until everything is dissolved.

Filter the sulfate solution to remove alumina silicate and impurities, then add sodium carbonate to precipitate alkaline metals and iron, with purification by sulfuric acid, active charcoal, or ion exchange.

Explore the acid-roasting step for lithium extraction, focusing on precipitating Li2CO3 while managing solubility with sodium carbonate and sodium sulfate, using filtration, washing, drying, and leaching to crystallize lithium carbonate.

Follow a lime roasting flowsheet to convert calcium carbonate to lithium hydroxide, through leaching, concentration, mixing and settling, purification, evaporation, and crystallization into lithium hydroxide crystals.

Explore lime roasting as a one-step calcination of spodumene with limestone to form calcium silicate and impurities, control temperatures around 900 and 2040, quench and grind to powder.

Leaching with hydroxide and water, in multiple stages, leaches lithium and removes all solid products, echoing solvent extraction concepts from the slides.

Lime roasting refines lithium production by crystallizing hydroxide via a multi-stage vacuum evaporator, with water purification, crystal washing by filtration, and attention to yield losses from coordination steps.

Explore an ion-exchange flowsheet where lithium replaces sodium or potassium using sulfate solutions, followed by evaporation, crystallization of potassium sulfate, and precipitation to lithium carbonate.

Explore the overview flowsheet for lithium production, starting with a first-stage solar-like operation to obtain a concentrated solution, followed by precipitation to yield a pure, concentrated product.

Explore how solar pond evaporation concentrates brine for lithium production, using calcium chloride to precipitate sulfate as gypsum, then crystallizes NaCl, KCl, and magnesium chloride while removing water to prevent contamination.

Purify brine and extract lithium through solvent extraction with sulfuric acid, then precipitate calcium and magnesium as gypsum and magnesium hydroxide using calcium carbonate and sodium carbonate.

Convert a solid starting material with calcium oxide to calcium hydroxide to yield lithium hydroxide, with calcium carbonate as a byproduct, and separate sulfate impurities through crystallization and membrane techniques.

This lecture outlines lithium metal production, compares it to sodium production, and explains producing lithium from chlorides, including the down process and how potassium chloride lowers the melting point.

Explore a typical LiCl electrolysis cell for metal production: a cathode assembly, insulating lining, gas and metal collection, and voltage considerations for large-scale operation.

Explore lithium metal uses in chemistry and technology, including birch reduction in vitamin synthesis, lithium metal batteries and solid-state batteries, and production of lithium alloys.

Explore lithium alloys overview and aircraft applications, highlighting aluminum-based alloys, low density metals that change properties—especially hardness and tactility—in wings, tails, and space shuttle external tanks.

Examine lithium alloys for battery anodes, including conductivity, liquid mobility, and their ability to support reasonable charge–discharge rates, with references to a nature article on negative electrode applications.