Lithium Recovery from Geothermal Water by Combined Adsorption Methods

Abstract

Abstract Recovery of Li+ from geothermal water has been investigated using a combination of adsorptive separation with magnetite and λ-MnO2 adsorbents. The inhibition of Li+ adsorption together with decomposition of λ-MnO2 was observed when geothermal water containing As was fed to the column in which λ-MnO2 was packed. Magnetite (Fe3O4) was therefore used for removal of As from the geothermal water, prior to adsorption of Li+. Using As removal from the geothermal water with magnetite, decomposition of λ-MnO2 was significantly prevented during adsorption of Li+, although a small amount of As still remained. Keywords: Adsorptionlithium geothermal waterλ-MnO2 magnetite ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors are grateful for the financial support through a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) (No. 23360344) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). The XRD and TG-DTA measurements were performed at the Instrumentation Center, University of Kitakyushu, Japan.