Ann: Qianyun Placement and Offtake Agreements Update, page-417

EXAMPLE

150 ml of LiCl/Al(OH).sub.3 pellets made as in above example are used in recovering lithium values from a sodium saturated natural brine containing at least 9000 mg/liter lithium chloride. Operation include two sodium chloride streams.

The lithium absorbent bed is prepared by placing the LiCl/Al(OH).sub.3 pellets in a jacketed glass column of 1'' diameter and 2' high with a water jacket heated capacity of up to 80.degree. C. Run water up flow at a rate to give 50% bed expansion for 20 to 30 minutes. Next follow the steps as below. 1. Run 450 ml brine up flow after pre-treatments to the glass column at a rate to give 50% bed expansion. 2. Allow bed to settle and drain supernatant brine from the top of the bed. 3. Run down flow 52.5 ml of sodium saturated brine to displace the inner-pellet brine. The effluent is saved for recycle to step 1 in the next cycle. 4. Run down flow 195 ml of sodium saturated brine containing 9000 mg/liter LiCl. The effluent is solar evaporated to provide sodium chloride for the circuit and further evaporation of lithium depleted brine to provide for recovery of potash and boron. 5. Run down flow 90 ml of sodium chloride saturated brine containing LiCl. The effluent is saved for recycle to step 4 in the next cycle. 6. Run down flow of 52.5 ml of 0.76 mol/liter LiCl. The effluent is recycled to step 5 in the next cycle. 7. Run down flow 76.5 ml of 0.76 mol/liter LiCl. 39 ml of effluent is saved as product and 37.5 ml is re-saturated with NaCl and is fed to step 5 in the next cycle. 8. Run down flow about 210 ml of water. About 130 ml of effluent is fed to step 6 and 7 in the next cycle and 80 ml of effluent is re-saturated with NaCl and is fed to step 4 in the next cycle. 9. Run down flow 52.5 ml of brine. The effluent is returned to water storage. 10. Run 450 ml of brine up flow at the rate to give 50% bed expansion. This step 10 is the same as step 1 start of the cycle.

Each cycle produces greater than 0.52 mol LiCl per liter of pellet bed at a concentration of greater than 2.0 mol/liter with the use of about 1.0 liter of water.

With the above cycle example, it was confirmed that the cycle time was improved greater than 27.5% by using brine containing lithium chloride 9000 mg/liter versus 4500 mg LiCl concentration/liter of brine and there was a greater than 40% cycle time improvement achieved over 2200 mg LiCl/liter of brine usage.

Having thus described certain embodiments of the present invention, it is to be understood that the invention defined by the appended claims is not to be limited by particular details set forth in the above description as many apparent variations thereof are possible without departing from the spirit or scope thereof as hereinafter claimed.