Review Extraction of lithium from primary and secondary sources by pre-treatment, leaching and separation: A comprehensive review Pratima Meshram a,b , B.D. Pandey a, ⁎, T.R. Mankhand b a CSIR—National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur 831 007, India b Dept. of Metallurgical Engineering, IIT, BHU, Varanasi 221 005, India abstract article info Article history: Received 27 October 2013 Received in revised form 4 October 2014 Accepted 12 October 2014 Available online 23 October 2014 Keywords: Lithium Primary ores Brines LIBs Hydrometallurgical recovery In this comprehensive review resources of lithium and status of different processes/technologies in vogue or being developed for extraction of lithium and associated metals from both primary and secondary resources are summarized. Lithium extraction from primary resources such as ores/minerals (spodumene, petalite and lepidolite) by acid, alkaline and chlorination processes and from brines by adsorption, precipitation and ion exchange processes, is critically examined. Problems associated with the exploitation of other resources such as bitterns and seawater are highlighted. As regards the secondary resources, the industrial processes followed and the newer developments aiming at the recovery of lithium from lithium ion batteries (LIBs) are described in detail. In particular pre-treatment of the spent LIBs, leaching of metals from the cathode material in different acids and separation of lithium and other metals from the leach liquors, are discussed. Although spent LIBs are currently processed to recover cobalt and other base metals but not lithium, there is a good prospect for the recovery of lithium in the coming years. Varying compositions of batteries for different applications require development of a suitable recycling process to recover metals from all types of LIBs. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 2. Resources of lithium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 2.1. Primary resources — minerals/clays and brines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 2.2. Secondary resources — lithium ion batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 3. Extraction of lithium from primary resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 3.1. Lithium extraction from minerals/clays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 3.1.1. Acid process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 3.1.2. Alkaline process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 3.1.3. Chlorination process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 3.1.4. Other processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 3.2. Lithium extraction from brines/sea water/bitterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 3.2.1. Adsorption process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 3.2.2. Precipitation process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 3.2.3. Ion exchange/Solvent extraction process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 3.3. Extraction of lithium from secondary resources — lithium ion batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 3.3.1. Major industrial processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 3.3.2. Recent development in recycling of lithium ion batteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Hydrometallurgy 150 (2014) 192–208 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: bd_pandey@yahoo.co.uk (B.D. Pandey). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2014.10.012 0304-386X/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Hydrometallurgy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/hydromet