PROSPECTS FOR CREATING A FULL CYCLE OF LITHIUM PRODUCTION IN KAZAKHSTAN – FROM ORE PROCESSING TO LITHIUM BATTERIES
Ключевые слова:
lithium, extraction, ore, spodumene, battery grade lithium carbonate, li-ion battery, method, purification, technology, recycling, cathode material, lithium iron phosphate.Аннотация
Today, lithium is becoming a new strategic material capable of influencing the sustainable
development of the world economy. The results of developments in the production of innovative electrode materials
from lithium carbonate on the basis of domestic lithium-containing raw materials with the creation of a full cycle of
the technological line of lithium production: from ores to modern lithium batteries are pesented. Analysis of the
explored reserves, mineral and material composition of domestic spodumene raw materials and lithium-containing
dumps of the Belogorsk GOK indicate the prospects and expediency of their development for the production of the
ever-increasing needs of the world market for lithium materials. As a result, the sulfuric acid technology for
obtaining high-grade lithium carbonate directly from spodumene was optimized, bypassing the stage of obtaining a
technical grade product, in a single technological process for processing spodumene with a reduction in the number
of technological operations, excluding the expensive operation of concentrating a lithium sulfate solution by
stripping. An efficient technology of purification and post-treatment of technical lithium carbonate to battery quality
of 99.95% has been developed, including the processes of causticization of technical lithium carbonate, ultrafiltration
and ion-exchange sorption of a solution of lithium hydroxide, followed by precipitation of lithium carbonate by
ammonium carbonate. Cathode materials - lithium iron-phosphate , obtained from high-purity lithium carbonate by
aerosol pyrolysis (MAP) and the sol-gel method (SGM), showed good electrochemical characteristics. The end result
is innovative electrode materials for modern LIBs with significantly increased capacity and stability. The practical
implementation of a full cycle of technologies from lithium-containing raw materials to modern lithium batteries
opens up prospects for the creation in Kazakhstan of a high-tech lithium cluster according to the Scheme:
Spodumene ores → Lithium concentrate → Lithium carbonate → Lithium cathode materials → Batteries
