Extractive Metallurgy of Lithium

Lithium is the lightest metal and the first metal in the periodic table. Lithium is used in a variety of applications, including the production of organolithium compounds, as an alloying addition to aluminum and magnesium, and as the anode in rechargeable lithium ion batteries especially for electronic devices and electric vehicles. Therefore, lithium is indispensable metal in our daily lives. The use of lithium continues to rise and has increased from about 14,000 tonnes per year worldwide in the 2000 to about 82,200 tonnes in the 2000. However, lithium is a representative rare metal and ranks 32nd among the abundant elements in the earth’s crust. This study reviews the current status of the lithium extraction processes as well as the trend in production amount and use. Lithium is extracted by a various methods depending on the type of resources. These extraction methods are essential for the development of new recycling processes that can extract lithium from secondary lithium resources.