Increasing demand for lithium batteries promotes the development of process technology

　　With the improvement of higher capacity and performance of lithium ion batteries (LIB) and the sharp demand for electronic equipment and electric vehicles (EV), especially the procurement, processing and recycling of the main materials used in battery manufacturing, innovations are required, especially for lithium and cobalt.

　　Continuous development of processes and equipment

　　One side effect of the increasing demand for lithium is the trend of mining companies eager to go public. "In the next few years, some companies will extract lithium carbonate from spodumene ore online, and its weight is usually about 8% Li2O. To meet demand, it is easy to start," Jenike & Johanson (Tyngsboro, Mass; www .jenike.com) project engineer Josh Marion said. This impact, combined with the high value of lithium and its specific physical properties, emphasizes the importance of proper design in all stages of lithium processing-from the initial mining to the final refining step. When trying to reach ideal benchmarks for product purity, particle size and density, this forces processors to approach bulk solids handling in new ways. "Many processing requirements may be more like pharmaceutical production than traditional mineral processing. Battery manufacturers have high requirements for the quality of materials. Without reliable solids processing, the required product consistency cannot be achieved," Marion explained.

　　Some of the major operating problems experienced by lithium processors include caking, accumulation and flow stop. In order to extract lithium from spodumene ore after mining, the raw ore needs to undergo a series of crushing and particle size classification steps to produce ore of the desired particle size. The concentrate is then sent to a concentration plant, where it undergoes several drying, grinding, separation, dehydration and further particle size classification steps to produce spodumene concentrate. The concentrate then enters the processing plant for calcination, adding various aqueous solutions, acids and other chemicals to extract different impurities such as iron, aluminum, silicon and magnesium. Finally, the wet cake is recrystallized and dried into lithium hydroxide (LiOH) or lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) products. "Especially in the step of lithium in the wet filter cake, if you do not have enough dryers or the processing equipment is not designed to handle slightly damp materials, then you will usually accumulate lithium and lithium nuggets throughout the plant. The hygroscopicity of lithium salt, even if the material is dry, it may absorb moisture and cake," Marion said. He emphasized that attention to detail during the equipment design stage is essential to avoid these bottlenecks and ensure the consistency of product quality. "When selecting and designing equipment, it is important to ensure that the material properties at each stage of the process are considered," he added.