Abstract for the 6th IWLiME, 9th-11th September 2019,

La Paz-Bolivia

Determination and analysis of the technical feasibility of

lithium hydroxide production from brines using bipolar
membranes electrodialysis
A. Gonzalez1, M. Grágeda1
1 Department of Chemical Engineering and Mineral Process, and Center for Advanced Study of
Lithium and Industrial Minerals (CELIMIN), Universidad de Antofagasta, Campus Coloso, av. Universidad de
Antofagasta, 02800 Antofagasta (Chile).

Currently in Chile, lithium is of great important due to the expectations generated by the growing
global demand of rechargeable batteries. The conventional processes for obtaining lithium salts
have several stages and high investment in equipment (Figure 1) [1]. This work considers
electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBP) as an alternative process for obtaining lithium
hydroxide (LiOH) directly from brines [2-3], which, being an electrochemical process, can be
driven by Solar PV taking advantage of the conditions of the Atacama Desert. The objective of
this work is to evaluate the production of LiOH by EDBP and study the Li+ ion transport
phenomena that occur in ion exchange membranes (IEM). For this, a laboratory-scale reactor was
designed and built to develop experimental tests using aqueous solutions of LiCl, LiOH, HCl and
Na2SO4 (see Figure 2). The effect of different concentrations, current density and linear flow
velocity on the final product, current efficiency and energy consumption is evaluated. On the other
hand, an estimation of the industrial scale process behavior (4800 ton LiOH / year) is carried out
using fundamental relationships such as Faraday's law of electrolysis, the Nernst equation and
electrolytic conductivity, among others.
Among the partial experimental results, a current efficiency of 0.6 and a specific productivity of
5.5 mol∙m-2∙h-1 was obtained, the lowest cell voltage was 2.2V. On the other hand, the theoretical
analysis of an industrial process indicates that a LiOH concentration of 5.9 wt% could be achieved,
which translates into a reduction in water consumption approximately 60% less than the
conventional process. If an efficient process is achieved, this technology will be a sustainable
alternative to obtain LiOH. To achieve this, work is being done to determine operating parameters
that improve Li + ion migration through the IEMs.
 Figure 1. Symplified diagram of conventional process for lithium hydroxide obtaining.

Figure 2. Diagram of electrodialysis process with bipolar membranes (EDBP) for obtaining LiOH from LiCl brine

Keywords: Lithium Hydroxide, Electrodialysis, Bipolar membranes

Acknowledgments: CONICYT Beca Doctorado Nacional/2017- 21170998, Proyecto Fondef

ID16I10159, CONICYT/FONDAP number 15110019

References
[1] Mario Grágeda, Alonso González, Wilson Alavia, Svetlana Ushak. Development and
optimization of a modified process for producing the battery grade LiOH: Optimization of energy
and water consumption. Energy 89 (2015), pages 667-677.
[2] Jiang C, Wang Y, Wang Q, Feng H, Xu T. Production of Lithium Hydroxide from Lake brines
through electro-electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EEDBM). Ind. Eng. Chem Res. 53
(2014): 6103-6112.
[3] Bunani S, Yoshizuka K, Nishihama S, Arda M, Kabav N. Application of bipolar membrane
electrodialysis (BMED) for simultaneous separation and recovery of boron and lithium from
aqueous solutions. Desalination 424 (2017): 37-44.