The present invention is related to the production and concentration of lithium and potassium from natural sources, in particular from clays from salt flats.

A method for producing an aqueous solution containing nickel, cobalt and manganese, includes: a leaching process including a pressure-leaching process of leaching a raw material under pressure to form a leachate containing nickel, cobalt, manganese and impurities; an impurity removal process of removing the impurities from the leachate; a target substance precipitation process of precipitating a mixed hydroxide precipitate containing nickel, cobalt and manganese by introducing a neutralizing agent into a filtrate from which the impurities are removed; and a dissolution process. The pressure-leaching process includes a first-stage pressure-leaching process and a second-stage pressure-leaching process of pressure-leaching a residue of the first-stage pressure-leaching process with an acidity higher than an acidity in the first-stage pressure-leaching process. The impurity removal process includes a first-stage solvent extraction process of selectively extracting zinc from the impurities and a second-stage solvent extraction process of selectively extracting magnesium from the impurities.

A method for extracting and separating a rare-earth element by extracting and separating the rare-earth element from an aqueous solution of rare-earth nitrate into n-heptane, with 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester trialkyl methyl ammonium or di-2-ethylhexyl phosphoric acid trialkyl methyl ammonium as an extractant, and n-heptane as a diluent by contacting the aqueous solution of rare-earth nitrate with the extractant and the diluent to extract and separate the rare earth element into n-heptane from the aqueous solution of rare earth nitrate.

The manufacture method disclosed herein includes: a preparation step of preparing a recovery object containing lithium and a first metal element; a chlorination heating step of heating the recovery object together with a metal chloride to produce LiCl; and a water dissolution step of immersing the recovery object after the chlorination heating step in water to dissolve LiCl in water to obtain a Li solution. In the manufacture method disclosed herein, a heating temperature in the chlorination heating step is 1000 C. or lower, and the metal chloride contains a second metal element that is more easily chlorinated than the first metal element in the recovered object and more hardly chlorinated than lithium in the chlorination heating step. Thereby, Li can be easily recovered from the recovery object at a low temperature of 1000 C. or lower.

A method (10) for the extraction and recovery of vanadium from its ores, the method (10) characterised by the steps of: (i) Acid leaching (12) of an ore containing vanadium and iron to extract vanadium and iron into solution; (ii) Passing the product (78) of the leach step (i) to a solid/liquid separation step (80); (iii) Passing the liquid product (82) of separation step (ii) to a solvent extraction step (14) in which vanadium and iron are extracted into an organic extractant from that liquid product; (iv) Passing the loaded organic extractant produced in step (iii) to a stripping step (16, 18) in which acid is used to selectively and sequentially strip the vanadium and iron from the organic extractant; and (v) Passing the vanadium containing strip solution of step (iv) to a recovery step (104).

Provided is a method for purification of manganese pregnant leach solution (PLS) using solvent extraction (SX). The method broadly comprises the steps of providing a partially purified aqueous pregnant leach solution (PLS), using an SX load stage to form a first organic mixture which forms a loaded organic phase comprising all of the manganese from the PLS, performing two stages of SX scrubbing to form a third organic mixture which is substantially free of impurities, performing SX stripping to transfer the manganese content of the scrubbed organic phase into a clean aqueous phase, and producing high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) crystals from the clean aqueous phase.

Provided is a method for purification of manganese pregnant leach solution (PLS) using solvent extraction (SX). The method broadly comprises the steps of providing a partially purified aqueous pregnant leach solution (PLS), using an SX load stage to form a first organic mixture which forms a loaded organic phase comprising all of the manganese from the PLS, performing two stages of SX scrubbing to form a third organic mixture which is substantially free of impurities, performing SX stripping to transfer the manganese content of the scrubbed organic phase into a clean aqueous phase, and producing high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) crystals from the clean aqueous phase.

Provided herein is a nickel recovering method, comprising: (A-i) a reduction heat treatment process for thermally treating a first raw material containing nickel and lithium; (B) a first leaching process for leaching the heat-treated product produced by the reduction heat treatment process; (A-ii) a roasting process for thermally treating a second raw material containing nickel and sulfur; (C) a second leaching process for leaching the first leaching residue produced by the first leaching process and calcine produced by the roasting process; (D) a neutralization process for neutralizing the second leachate produced by the second leaching process; (E) a purification process for removing impurities contained in the neutralized solution produced by the neutralization process; and (F) a reduction process for performing a hydrogen reduction method on the purified solution produced by the purification process to recover nickel from the purified solution.

Flexible processes and systems for recovering manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni) as a purified co-precipitated product or alternatively independent products, from a lithium-ion battery waste stream are provided. The process may include upstream leaching and impurity removal prior to separation in a metal recovery system that may include a manganese (Mn) recovery unit to generate a manganese (Mn)-containing product, a cobalt (Co) recovery unit to generate a cobalt (Co)-containing product or a nickel (Ni) recovery unit to generate a nickel (Ni)-containing product or alternatively and optionally may include a co-precipitator unit to form a co-precipitated product. A lithium (Li) recovery unit may further process a portion of the waste liquid stream to form a lithium (Li)-containing product.

Provided herein is a nickel recovering method, comprising: (A-i) a reduction heat treatment process for thermally treating a first raw material containing nickel and lithium; (B) a first leaching process for leaching the heat-treated product produced by the reduction heat treatment process; (A-ii) a roasting process for thermally treating a second raw material containing nickel and sulfur; (C) a second leaching process for leaching the first leaching residue produced by the first leaching process and calcine produced by the roasting process; (D) a neutralization process for neutralizing the second leachate produced by the second leaching process; (E) a purification process for removing impurities contained in the neutralized solution produced by the neutralization process; and (F) a precipitation process of performing a precipitation method to recover nickel from the purified solution produced by the purification process, and a nickel hydroxide is recovered by the precipitation process.