A Study on the Removal of Sulfate in Li2CO3 by Recrystallization

In order to remove sulfate(SO4 2-) and purify the Li2CO3, dissolution and recrystallization of crude Li2CO3 using distilled water and HCl solution was performed. When Li2CO3 was dissolved using distilled water, the amount of dissolved Li2CO3(wt.%) increased as the solution temperature decrease and showed about 1.50 wt.% at 2.5°C. In addition, when Na2CO3 was added and the Li2CO3 solution was recrystallized, the recrystallization(%) increased with increasing temperature, resulting in a 49.00 % at 95 °C. On the other hand, when Li2CO3 was dissolved using HCl solution, there was no effect of reaction temperature. As the concentration of HCl solution increased, the amount of dissolved Li2CO3(wt.%) increased, indicating 7.10 wt.% in 2.0 M HCl solution. When the LiCl solution was recrystallized by adding Na2CO3, it exhibited a recrystallization(%) of 86.10 % at a reaction temperature of 70 °C, and showed a sulfate ion removal(%) of 96.50 % or more. Finally, more than 99.10 % of Na and more than 99.90 % of sulfate were removed from the recrystallized Li2CO3 powder through water washing, and purified Li2CO3 with a purity of 99.10 % could be recovered.