Chemical Engineering August 2014 - 19

Another producer of lithium and
lithium compounds, Rockwood Holdings,
Inc. (Princeton, N.J.; www.
rocksp.com), has created a joint venture
with Sichuan Tianqi Lithium
Industries, giving Rockwood a 49%
ownership interest in Talison Lithium.
The purchase was announced
by Rockwood Lithium (Frankfurt,
Germany; www.rockwoodlithium.de),
a subsidiary of Rockwood Holdings.
Rockwood Lithium produces lithium
carbonate at the Salar de Atacama,
Chile, and in Nevada.
Rockwood Holdings and Sociedad
Quimica y Minera de Chile (Santiago,
Chile; www.sqm.com), which
both operate on the country's Salar
de Atacama, are two of the world's
leading lithium producers.
Another Australian company that
has developed and patented a process
to produce battery-grade lithium
carbonate and lithium hydroxide
is Reed Resources Ltd. (Perth;
www.reedresources.com). Its process
(Figure 2) utilizes the electrolysis
of a lithium chloride solution
obtained from either a spodumene
ore or concentrate, or from brines.
The spodumene comes from the Mt.
Marion Lithium Project in Western
Australia, which is located about 40
km south of Kalgoorlie and jointly
owned by Reed Resources (70%)
and Mineral Resources Ltd (Perth;
www.mineralresources.com.au), a
mining service, processing and commodities
production company.
The Reed Resources process (Figure
2) comprises the following steps:
* Preparing a process solution from
the lithium containing material,
where the a-spodumene is calcined
to produce b-spodumene
* Passing the process solution to a
series of impurity removal steps
providing a fairly purified lithium
chloride solution
* Passing the purified lithium chloride
solution to an electrolysis
step thereby producing a lithium
hydroxide solution
* Carbonating the lithium hydroxide
solution by passing compressed
carbon dioxide through
the solution, thus producing a
lithium carbonate precipitate
A similar process is employed by
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Chemical Engineering August 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering August 2014