lithium-chloride and brine

Salar de Uyuni (SdU), with a geological history that reflects 50 000 years of climate change, is the largest hypersaline salt flat on Earth and is estimated to be the biggest lithium reservoir in the world. Its salinity reaches saturation levels for NaCl, a kosmotropic salt, and high concentrations of MgCL

Topics: Archaea; Bacteria; Biodiversity; Bolivia; Extreme Environments; Lithium Chloride; Magnesium Chloride; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Salinity; Salts; Sodium Chloride

We report a three-stage bench-scale column extraction process to selectively extract lithium chloride from geothermal brine. The goal of this research is to develop materials and processing technologies to improve the economics of lithium extraction and production from naturally occurring geothermal and other brines for energy storage applications. A novel sorbent, lithium aluminum layered double hydroxide chloride (LDH), is synthesized and characterized with X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES), and thermogravimetric analysis. Each cycle of the column extraction process consists of three steps: (1) loading the sorbent with lithium chloride from brine; (2) intermediate washing to remove unwanted ions; (3) final washing for unloading the lithium chloride ions. Our experimental analysis of eluate vs feed concentrations of Li and competing ions demonstrates that our optimized sorbents can achieve a recovery efficiency of ∼91% and possess excellent Li apparent selectivity of 47.8 compared to Na ions and 212 compared to K ions, respectively in the brine. The present work demonstrates that LDH is an effective sorbent for selective extraction of lithium from brines, thus offering the possibility of effective application of lithium salts in lithium-ion batteries leading to a fundamental shift in the lithium supply chain.

Topics: Aluminum; Aluminum Hydroxide; Lithium; Lithium Chloride; Salts

Long-term studies have shown that common fungi of the Penicillium-Aspergillus group can be grown in a variety of brines or on moist salt crystals, simulating a range of natural terrestrial habitats such as salt flats, or special water-bodies such as the Dead Sea. In general, salt media rich in KCl are favored over other alkali halides; the media become more selective as the salt concentration rises and nutrient requirements become more complex. We here demonstrate that media which resemble the Dead Sea salt mix can support the growth of selected fungal strains, even in the absence of reduced organic nutrients other than glucose. Such media may serve as models for localized microhabitats on Mars.

Topics: Aspergillus niger; Calcium Chloride; Colony Count, Microbial; Culture Media; Exobiology; Lichens; Lithium Chloride; Magnesium Sulfate; Mars; Osmolar Concentration; Penicillium chrysogenum; Potassium Chloride; Salts; Sodium Chloride