EXTRACTION AND PURIFICATION OF LITHIUM FROM LEPIDOLITE VIA SULPHURIC ACID ROASTING

Abstract

Presently, the strategic position of lithium has been elevated remarkably with the rapid development of the new energy industry and increasingly stringent requirements of carbon emissions. To improve the production efficiency of related chemicals from lepidolite, the higher extraction rate of lithium from lepidolite mineral is of great significance. This study explores an energy-efficient approach for extracting lithium from lepidolite using sulphuric acid roasting. Lepidolite ore was collected from Eggon, Nasarawa State, Nigeria. It was crushed, sieved to 250 micrometers, and calcined at 900°C. The calcined ore was roasted with sulphuric acid at 300°C for 2 hours. This was followed by water leaching and purification using NaOH and Na2CO3 to recover lithium as lithium carbonate. The procedure yielded 1.9 grams of lithium carbonate with a product yield of 0.552% from 80 grams of lepidolite, and a recovery efficiency of 17.68%. X–ray diffraction (XRD) validated the effective conversion, while Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) demonstrated a purity of 2.11%. X–ray fluorescence (XRF) identified the elemental composition of the raw lepidolite ore in bulk and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) provided detailed insights into the morphological changes during the lithium extraction process. The entire energy consumption was 4.32 kWh. This research proposes a streamlined, lower-temperature extraction approach and suggests future optimization in energy utilization and exploration of other leaching agents.