DBM/Cyanex923 Coextracts Lithium from High-Sodium Lithium-Containing Wastewater
摘要
This study investigated the extraction performance of the DBM (bibenzoylmethane) + Cyanex 923 system, proposing a novel method for the selective recovery of lithium from lithium sulfate solutions. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to elucidate the synergistic extraction mechanism. The results demonstrated that the DBM + Cyanex923 synergistic system effectively achieved lithium–sodium separation, with the organic phase composition and equilibrium pH significantly influencing the separation efficiency. Under optimized conditions (organic phase: 0.5 mol/L DBM + 1 mol/L Cyanex923; aqueous phase: 2 g/L Li, 50 g/L Na; pH 12; 25°C; phase ratio O/A = 1:1), a single-stage lithium extraction rate of 92.1% was achieved. For the simulated feed solutions containing 2 g/L Li and 50 g/L Na, a two-stage countercurrent extraction process at O/A = 1:2 yielded more than 99% lithium extraction. Using 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 as the washing solution at O/A = 2:1 through two-stage countercurrent extraction, the sodium concentration in the loaded organic phase was reduced to less than 0.05 g/L, with a washing efficiency exceeding 97.8%. Three-stage countercurrent stripping with 1.5 mol/L H2SO4 at O/A = 3:1 produced stripping solutions containing 17.12 g/L Li and 1.02 g/L Na, resulting in sodium impurity removal rates above 98%.