When I read your post my first reaction is someone can be invested in lithium but not truly know what they are invested in. Some basic chemistry and process knowledge would go a long way to understanding some things.
The following is from Albermale - unfortunately I couldn't find the specs it previously published for 6% grade spodumene but found the specs for 6.8% spodumene - the difference is that the 0.8% spread from 6.8% - 6% is within the other component parts of the concentrate if want to know the difference -
Microsoft Word - r9530642.rtf (albemarle.com):
I am giving the references so you can follow some logic that not everything is waste in the concentrate that is sold:
To understand the above:
1. The key deleterious elements are P205, K20 and F203.
2. When something grades 6.8%, saying 85% of the Li20 concentrate is spodumene, 6% = 75% - refer
Hard Rock Lithium Processing (sgs.com) specifically below info:
3. Al203 is aluminium oxide. It is actually what you use as your coating for anode surfaces in lithium batteries and in the atom exchange. Here is something to read -
How Do Li Atoms Pass through the Al2O3 Coating Layer during Lithiation in Li-ion Batteries? | The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (acs.org) and
Al2O3 coating on anode surface in lithium ion batteries: Impact on low temperature cycling and safety behavior - ScienceDirectI will let you decide whether it is recovered in process, or a process will be developed to recover it.
4. Na2O is sodium oxide
5. SiO2 is silicon dioxide
I will let you work out what 4 and 5 are, but the below may help you:
Why is spodumene better than lepidoliteThe answer is it spodumene concentrate produces less waste because more of the spodumene concentrate is recovered - Li20 plus other co products and has less deleterious elements. Let lone the energy intensity difference you would expect in recovering lithium from lepidolite compared to spodumene in a calcination process. And the fact lepidolite generally has lower grades to spod deposits meaning need more ore to produce a concentrate. I posted before what the chemical composition of each was -
Post #:71667622An example:Covalent Lithium is proposing to convert spodumene concentrate from the Mt Holland mine into lithium hydroxide monohydrate at Kwinana - refer
6138272_Rev-2_s38-EPA-Referral. Here is its process flow sheet:
To note:
1. The calcination process is done at 1050 degrees, meaning you loose a bit there. In terms of the lithium recovery, it is generally around 85% - 90%.
2. The process flowsheet produces by and co-products. One been, for example, Glauber's salt (Sodium sulphate) and I will let you work out what that is. Even Albermale's Kemerton facility yabbers Sodium sulphate
for export -
Albemarle Kemerton Plant - EPA Report and Recommendations.pdf3. The report talks about other co-product initiatives (and this is within Australia let alone larger markets where spodumene is sold where the market for by and co-products will be larger).
For others:Point of this post is we don't generally understand what else is done with the other elements within the spodumene concentrate when sold to say China/US/Europe.
Take brine production, which has a one stop process to carbonate at site, we know their are issues around water, however lithium from brines often comes with potash credits in Chile btw which is important to the fertilser industry.
Point is not everything is waste, before we get to the bigger picture been spodumene is better that lepidolite btw. The only thing I do agree with you is that we should be actually processing spodumene into hydroxide here, but that is another story.
All IMO
(20min delay)
