Abstract The extraction process of highly demanded lithium from brine normally starts with a solar evaporation pond to increase the lithium concentration, which takes more than a year and is weather-dependent. This work evaluated the enrichment of lithium from salt lake brine using graphene oxide (GO) composite pervaporation membrane with the crystallizer unit. The deposition of stacked GO layer on the commercially available hydrophobic membranes can tackle the membrane wetting and salt crystallization issues. The initial water flux was 11 L/m2 h at 70 °C, which was 20 times higher than that of solar evaporation pond (~0.5 L/m2 h) and 10 times lower footprint. With high initial feed concentration (>200 g/L of salt) the GO composite pervaporation membrane increased lithium concentration from 0.3 to 1.27 g/L (73% feed volume reduction). Assuming 10 m3/day capacity of the proposed solar pervaporation system, an economic analysis showed that the technique is not economically sustainable when solely aiming at the lithium extraction, while it becomes competitive with the traditional method when aiming at simultaneously producing deionized water and lithium. A payback time of 3.6–27 years is achievable with the sale price of water and LiOH at US$ 0.3–1 per 20 L and US$ 20 per kg, respectively. A continuous process is also possible with backup gas heater and waste heat.

中文翻译：

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使用 GO 复合渗透蒸发膜浓缩盐水用于锂回收

摘要 从卤水中提取高需求锂的过程通常从太阳能蒸发池开始，以增加锂浓度，这需要一年多的时间并且取决于天气。这项工作评估了使用带有结晶器单元的氧化石墨烯 (GO) 复合渗透蒸发膜从盐湖卤水中富集锂。在市售的疏水膜上沉积堆叠的 GO 层可以解决膜润湿和盐结晶问题。70 °C 时的初始水通量为 11 L/m2 h，比太阳能蒸发池（~0.5 L/m2 h）高 20 倍，占地面积低 10 倍。在高初始进料浓度（> 200 g/L 盐）的情况下，GO 复合渗透蒸发膜将锂浓度从 0.3 增加到 1.27 g/L（进料体积减少 73%）。假设所提议的太阳能渗透蒸发系统的产能为 10 立方米/天，经济分析表明，该技术仅针对锂提取在经济上是不可持续的，而当目标是同时生产去离子水和锂时，它与传统方法相比具有竞争力。水和氢氧化锂的售价分别为每 20 升 0.3-1 美元和每公斤 20 美元，可实现 3.6-27 年的投资回收期。使用备用气体加热器和废热也可以进行连续过程。水和氢氧化锂的售价分别为每 20 升 0.3-1 美元和每公斤 20 美元，可实现 3.6-27 年的投资回收期。使用备用气体加热器和废热也可以进行连续过程。水和氢氧化锂的售价分别为每 20 升 0.3-1 美元和每公斤 20 美元，可实现 3.6-27 年的投资回收期。使用备用气体加热器和废热也可以进行连续过程。