Sürdürülebilir Kalkınma Amaçları
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- MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ2A Strategic Pre-Mechanical Activation Approach for Reducing Acid Consumption and Ion Release on Acid Leaching of Lithium-Bearing Clays
Boylu, Feridun; Obuz Teker, Gülsen; Ersever Angur, Gafure; Özdemir, Orhan; Güven, Onur; Celik, Mehmet S.
The increasing demand for lithium and the limited availability of high-grade resources have accelerated interest in lithium-bearing clays as a promising alternative, despite their relatively lower lithium content. Lithium extraction from such clay minerals typically requires thermal treatment or acid leaching to disrupt the clay crystal lattice and enhance lithium solubility. The enrichment tailings from the Kırka Boron Processing Plant in Türkiye consist predominantly of dolomite-rich clay minerals and contain approximately 900–1200 ppm Li. Considering the substantial quantities of these tailings currently stored on-site, recovering lithium and converting these materials into a valuable resource would be of significant economic importance. However, due to their mineralogical composition, conventional acid leaching of these tailings demands relatively high sulfuric acid consumption (1.5–2.0 M H2SO4). This leads to excessively low solution pH and the generation of highly acidic waste streams, while also promoting the co-dissolution of iron (Fe) and aluminum (Al) ions at pH levels below 2, which negatively affects lithium recovery and downstream processing. In this study, mechanical activation was applied to the tailings prior to acid leaching. As a result, the acid requirement to achieve lithium extraction efficiencies of 90% and above was successfully reduced from 1.5 M to 1.0 M H2SO4. Moreover, solution pH was maintained near neutral (~7), and the undesirable dissolution of Fe and Al ions was effectively suppressed and kept under control.
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İncele - MakaleAçık Erişim2026Scopus SJRQ3Effect of mechanical activation on lithium and alkali cation release from dolomitic clay wastes of boron processing plant
Boylu, Feridun; Teker, Gülsen Obuz; Angur, Gafure Ersever; Ozdemir, Orhan; Çelik, Mehmet Sabri
With the significant increase in lithium demand and production, alternative resources such as lithium-bearing clays have increasingly attracted attention and have been considered as a potential source. In addition to conventional Li recovery methods such as acid treatment and roasting, more economical and environmentally friendly techniques such as mechanical activation followed by water leaching are also being considered. In Türkiye, wastes from boron processing plants, containing approximately 900 ppm of lithium and mainly of dolomitic clays and unrecovered boron minerals (~10-13% of waste), are considered as a potential lithium source. However, due to high dolomite and boron mineral contents, the waste material may release significant amounts of alkaline earth ions such as Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+, and B2O3 during leaching, which may interfere with lithium extraction from the solution. In this study, the leaching behavior of lithium, alkali ions, and other possible elements (e.g., B2O3, Fe3+, and Al3+) from both raw clay waste and mechanically activated forms of this waste material was investigated in detail. The results showed that water leaching without sodium salt of activated waste samples achieves about 44.7–57.7% lithium recovery, yielding high lithium concentrations (80–115 ppm), low levels of alkali ions (4430 ppm Na+, 114 ppm K+, 20 ppm Ca2+, and 7 ppm Mg2+), and almost no detectable Fe3+ (<0.2 ppm) or Al3+ (0.07 ppm) ions. On the other hand, a single problem was encountered where 0.95 % of B2O3 concentrations did not decrease in water leaching at even room temperature.