Chemical Engineering June 2023 - 14

IBC Advanced Technologies
FIGURE 2. The direct production of battery-grade
lithium from brines has been demonstrated with
99% overall recovery rate
and-release kinetics. Expeditious elution
of the lithium from the resin results
in a pure lithium eluate. Notably,
no pre-extraction steps are required,
and the post-processed brine can be
returned to the salar. " Because the
extraction yield is so high, a smaller
volume of brine is treated per unit
of lithium extracted. The lithium-rich
solution from the MRT unit is transformed
directly and crystallized to
pure LHM, " explains Izatt. Chilean
mining company Simco Lithium is
currently planning a commercial-scale
implementation of the DLP process in
Salar de Maricunga, Chile. There are
also several more pilot and laboratory
tests underway at other locations. " A
wide range of brines has been successfully
tested, including those containing
very high levels of impurities in
the tens of thousands of milligrams
per liter range, " adds Izatt.
Making mining more responsible
To
help
mine
operators
improve
their environmental and social performance,
the Initiative for Responsible
Mining Assurance (IRMA;
Seattle, Wash.; www.responsiblemining.net)
has set forth a third-party
voluntary assessment system consisting
26
comprehensive
areas to
drive ongoing efforts to improve
mining operations.
Albemarle Corp. (Charlotte, N.C.;
www.albemarle.com) is among the
companies participating in IRMA au14
of
400 standards spanning
topic
dits at several global sites, and was
the first lithium company globally
to undergo a third-party audit at its
lithium operations at the Salar de Atacama
in Chile (shown in Figure 1). For
the company's operations at the salar,
a goal of achieving IRMA 50 - meaning
that 50% of the 400 standards are
met - has been set for the end of
2023. " It's been quite a process to get
ready for IRMA 50 and engage in the
audit process, as well as continuing to
work toward having the IRMA report
published. We've had to study all the
standards and figure out where we
have gaps. About 40% of the standards
deal with community engagement,
so we now have an agreement
with the indigenous community at
the salar where we work together on
environmental monitoring and share
a percentage of sales, " says Ellen
Lenny-Pessagno, global vice president
for external affairs and sustainability
for Albemarle's Energy Storage
business unit. " Becoming IRMA compliant
isn't a one-time look at the way
a site operates. It is a continuous process, "
emphasizes Lenny-Pessagno,
highlighting emergency preparedness
as a particular area where the site had
to adapt their plans to ensure IRMA
standards were being met. " We had a
robust emergency-preparedness plan
in place, but IRMA requires you to really
engage in a lot of dialogue with
the community to make sure the plan
is going to meet their needs and that
they understand potential impacts, "
she adds.
On the environmental side, Albemarle
had to conduct an extensive airquality
study at the Salar de Atacama
to help bolster IRMA standards compliance.
To help with energy demand
for DLE, the site recently completed
transmission lines to deliver renewable
energy to the salar. Furthermore, efforts
are underway to minimize freshwater
consumption and increase the
potential for brine re-injection in the
salar. " Through our current process,
we concentrate the brine and there
isn't any possibility to inject the brine
back into the salar. So, we need to
ensure there won't be any unforeseen
environmental impacts if we start reinjecting
the brine. We're constantly
monitoring the brine and water in the
area, " says Lenny-Pessagno. Another
major infrastructure project at the site
involves bringing desalinated water
to the area - not just for Albemarle's
use, but for multipurpose supply to
industrial sectors and communities in
the area.
Lenny-Pessagno believes
that
working toward IRMA 50 has been
very beneficial for the Salar de Atacama.
" When we took a step back
after the audit process, we saw that
the IRMA standard truly was a great
playbook to make improvements in
in our operation and ensure we're
minimizing
environmental
impacts,
while maximizing dialogue and
transparency with community members.
It's been a great choice that
we made, and the investment and
many, many people-hours, as well
as things like the air-quality studies,
have been well worth the effort. " The
work does not end once IRMA 50 is
achieved. " There is an interim audit at
18 months and then a full-scale audit
at three years, so it's not a process
where you can rest on your laurels
for the rest of the mine life. It is truly
continuous improvement, " she notes.
Achieving IRMA 100 is the responsibility
pinnacle for the mining industry.
Albemarle's lithium-mining project in
Kings Mountain, N.C. has set a goal
to become the first IRMA 100 site in
the world.
How much lithium is there?
Understanding the composition of
brines can be challenging and timeconsuming,
as properties can vary
widely depending on location and
processing conditions. A new device,
the Z-9 Liquidator (Figure 3),
developed by SciAps, Inc. (Woburn,
Mass.; www.sciaps.com), is said to
be the world's first portable analyzer
for
lithium brines. " Currently, brine
samples must be sent to off-site laboratories
for analysis, which requires
several weeks. With our system, results
can be determined in a matter
of minutes, " says Don Sackett, CEO
of SciAps.
Lithium brines are especially difficult
to analyze when compared to
other liquid streams. Typically, in-field
elemental analysis employs X-ray
fluorescence (XRF), but because of
lithium's low molecular weight, the
X-ray emissions are extremely weak,
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
JUNE 2023
http://www.sciaps.com http://www.responsiblemining.net http://www.responsiblemining.net http://www.albemarle.com http://WWW.CHEMENGONLINE.COM
Chemical Engineering June 2023

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