Integrated Direct Carbonation Process for Lithium Recovery from Primary and Secondary Resources

In view of the increasing demand for lithium and the unequal distribution of lithium deposits worldwide, local deposits such as the zinnwaldite deposit at Zinnwald/Cínovec are increasingly coming into focus. It could be shown that especially the direct carbonation process with supercritical CO 2 represents a promising approach for a technical implementation due to the low chemical consumption as well as the high selectivity for lithium. Moreover, besides primary ore (zinnwaldite), the method is also suitable for recovering lithium carbonate from black mass, the lithium-containing fraction from lithium ion battery recycling.