Lithium carbonate is an important inorganic salt widely used in ceramics, glass, electronics, medicine and other fields. With the increasing demand for lithium carbonate, its recycling and recovery technology has received more and more attention.
1. Chemical recycling technology: Separate lithium carbonate from waste by chemical reaction, and then purify and transform it. For example, lithium carbonate is reacted with acid or alkali to generate soluble salt, and then separated by precipitation, crystallisation and evaporation. This method can deal with various forms of lithium carbonate waste, but the recovery cost is high, and it is easy to produce secondary pollution.
2. Physical recycling technology: Separate lithium carbonate from waste through physical methods, and then purify and transform. For example, the use of flotation, centrifugation, filtration and other technologies to separate lithium carbonate and impurities, and then through evaporation, crystallisation and other ways to get lithium carbonate. This method is simple and low cost, but only applies to some specific forms of lithium carbonate waste.
3. Biological recovery technology: the use of microbial metabolism of lithium carbonate from the waste into useful compounds. For example, certain bacteria or fungi are used to convert lithium carbonate into soluble salts, which are then separated out by methods such as ion exchange or electrodialysis. This method is environmentally friendly and highly efficient, but requires strict control of microbial species and growth conditions.
4. Thermal recovery technology: through high temperature incineration or pyrolysis of lithium carbonate from waste into gas or combustible material, and then through condensation, adsorption and other methods to recover lithium carbonate. For example, mixing lithium carbonate waste with carbon black and heating, the gas obtained contains lithium carbonate, and then through cooling and adsorption to get higher purity of lithium carbonate. This method of recovery is more efficient, but requires large amounts of energy consumption, and is prone to secondary pollution.
5. Ion exchange technology: the use of ion exchangers will be adsorbed from the solution of lithium carbonate, and then separated and transformed. For example, the use of anion exchanger will be adsorbed out of the anions in the lithium carbonate solution, and then through the elution and crystallisation to get a higher purity of lithium carbonate. This method is easy to operate and inexpensive, but it is only suitable for dealing with low concentration of lithium carbonate solution.
In conclusion, there are many ways to recycle lithium carbonate and recovery technology, and different methods are suitable for different situations. In practical application, it is necessary to choose the appropriate method according to the actual situation in order to achieve good recovery results.