The use of lithium in manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, along with stringent environmental regulations, have strongly increased the need for its sustainable production and recycling. The required purity of lithium compounds used for the production of battery components is very high (> 99.5%). In this work, a solvometallurgical process that exploits the differences in solubility between LiCl and other alkali and alkaline-earth chlorides and hydroxides in ethanolic solutions has been investigated for the purification of LiCl to battery grade at room temperature. A closed-loop flowsheet based on the green solvent ethanol is proposed for purification of LiCl, a precursor for battery-grade LiOH·H₂O. High-purity LiCl solution (> 99.5% Li) could be obtained in a single-process step comprising the simultaneous selective dissolution of LiCl and the precipitation of Mg(OH)₂ and Ca(OH)₂ using LiOH·H₂O in 95 vol% ethanol. However, the analogous process in aqueous solution resulted in impure LiCl (typically less than about 75%).

Graphical Abstract

中文翻译：

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将氯化锂提纯至电池级的一步溶剂冶金工艺

锂在混合动力和电动汽车锂离子电池制造中的使用，以及严格的环境法规，极大地增加了对其可持续生产和回收利用的需求。用于生产电池组件的锂化合物的纯度要求非常高（> 99.5%）。在这项工作中，研究了一种溶剂冶金工艺，该工艺利用 LiCl 与其他碱金属和碱土金属氯化物和氢氧化物在乙醇溶液中的溶解度差异，在室温下将 LiCl 纯化为电池级。提出了一种基于绿色溶剂乙醇的闭环流程，用于提纯锂离子电池级 LiOH·H _2的前体O. 高纯度 LiCl 溶液 (> 99.5% Li) 可以在一个单一工艺步骤中获得，包括同时选择性溶解 LiCl 和使用 LiOH·H ₂ O沉淀 Mg(OH) ₂和 Ca(OH) ₂在 95 vol% 乙醇中。然而，在水溶液中的类似过程会产生不纯的 LiCl（通常低于约 75%）。

图形概要