The whole process of lithium extraction from spodumene

In recent years, with the sharp increase in the demand for cathode materials for new energy vehicles, the price of spodumene concentrate has risen, and many lithium ore concentrators have begun to expand the production of lithium resources. In order to rationally develop and utilize lithium ore resources, it is particularly important to select a suitable and correct spodumene sorting process.

The main useful minerals of lithium ore are Li2O, the gangue minerals are SiO2 with a content of up to 67.71%, and the harmful elements sulfur and phosphorus are low. After the mineral processing test analysis, the mineral processing process adopted includes: crushing and screening, grinding and classification, flotation purification, tailings magnetic separation and other processes, which will be introduced in detail below!

1. Spodumene crushing and screening process

According to the principle of "more crushing and less grinding", the concentrator generally adopts a three-stage and one closed-circuit crushing and screening process in crushing and screening operations. Specifically: the raw ore enters the jaw crusher through the feeder for coarse crushing, and the coarsely crushed products are transported to the cone crusher through the belt conveyor for intermediate crushing.

After secondary crushing, the ore discharged from the cone crusher will enter the circular vibrating screen for screening. The ore with unqualified particle size on the sieve needs to be sent to the second cone crusher for fine crushing. The undersieve can enter the next process flow. The use of such a three-stage-one-closed-circuit crushing and screening operation can solve the problem of large particle size of crushed materials, and at the same time, ensure the processing efficiency of raw ore and the recovery rate of concentrate ore, and improve production indicators.

2. Spodumene grinding and grading process

After crushing and screening, qualified minerals enter the storage bin and are fed into the grinding and grading process by the feeder. The detailed process is as follows: the ore under the screen is sent to the ball mill by the belt conveyor for grinding, and the product after grinding is stored in the pump box. The slurry in the pump box is pumped into the hydrocyclone through the slurry pump for classification.

Because spodumene contains other muddy substances, the classified pulp needs to be transported to the inclined plate thickener for desliming and thickening. After a period of precipitation, the concentrated and deslimed spodumene slurry is discharged from the bottom of the concentrator and enters the next step of sorting process.

3. Spodumene flotation process

Generally, spodumene beneficiation plants will use flotation to sort spodumene. The specific process is as follows: the concentrated and deslimed spodumene pulp will enter the flotation machine for a rough separation. After roughing, the spodumene rough concentrate will enter the next step of beneficiation. The coarse tailings will be scavenged.

When spodumene is selected, three selections are generally used. Such three times of beneficiation can improve the recovery rate of spodumene concentrate and avoid waste of materials. The selected spodumene is the concentrate product, which can be transported to the concentrate warehouse for storage for the next step of processing.

4.Magnetic separation process of spodumene tailings

The purpose of treating the tailings is to further increase the recovery rate of spodumene concentrate. The tailings obtained after spodumene roughing and beneficiation will enter the sweeping process for treatment. Because the spodumene tailings contain mica flakes and other debris, if they are directly separated into the strong magnetic separator, the media box may be blocked and affect the effect of strong magnetic iron removal.

Therefore, in order to ensure and improve the iron removal effect, a high-frequency fine screen can be added before the spodumene tailings enter the weak magnetic separator. In this way, the impurities contained in the tailings can be removed to ensure the normal progress of the iron removal process. In order to obtain high-quality feldspar powder, one weak magnetic separation and two strong magnetic separations can be performed on the tailings after iron removal.

The above is the introduction of spodumene beneficiation process, which is for reference only. The specific detailed process design and equipment layout should be determined according to the characteristics of the ore itself.