An electrowinning cell for extracting metals from an electrolyte solution, the electrowinning cell comprising a housing, a solution inlet, a solution outlet, a plurality of anodes, a plurality of cathodes and a product outlet, wherein at least one anode is substantially impermeable and configured to maintain a gap between a lower edge of the anode and the housing, so that fluid flow of solution is directed below the anode, and wherein at least one cathode is secured at a lower edge to the housing to prevent fluid flow below the lower edge of the cathode.

Described herein are methods for recovering lithium metal, lithium hydride, or lithium hydroxide from lithium salts by dissolving the lithium salt in ionic liquids and applying a current to the solution.

Described herein are methods for recovering lithium metal, lithium hydride, or lithium hydroxide from lithium salts by dissolving the lithium salt in ionic liquids and applying a current to the solution.

Electrochemical methods using intercalation chemistry to extract Li from seawater using the TiO2-coated FePO4 electrode. The difference in the thermodynamic intercalation potentials, as well as the diffusion barriers between Li and Na, could provide near 100% selectivity towards Li interaction when Li/Na molar ratio is higher than 10-3. For lower Li/Na ratio as in the authentic seawater case, pulsed-rest and pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest electrochemical methods were developed to lower the intercalation overpotential and it was proven to successfully boost the Li selectivity. Moreover, the pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest method can also promote electrode crystal structure stability during the co-intercalation of Li and Na and prolong the lifetime of the electrode. Finally, 10 cycles of successful and stable Li extraction with 1:1 of Li to Na recovery from authentic seawater were demonstrated, which is equivalent to the selectivity of ˜1.8×104. Also, with lake water of higher initial Li/Na ratio of 1.6×10-3, Li extraction with more than 50:1 of Li to Na recovery was achieved.

Electrochemical methods using intercalation chemistry to extract Li from seawater using the TiO2-coated FePO4 electrode. The difference in the thermodynamic intercalation potentials, as well as the diffusion barriers between Li and Na, could provide near 100% selectivity towards Li interaction when Li/Na molar ratio is higher than 10-3. For lower Li/Na ratio as in the authentic seawater case, pulsed-rest and pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest electrochemical methods were developed to lower the intercalation overpotential and it was proven to successfully boost the Li selectivity. Moreover, the pulse-rest-reverse pulse-rest method can also promote electrode crystal structure stability during the co-intercalation of Li and Na and prolong the lifetime of the electrode. Finally, 10 cycles of successful and stable Li extraction with 1:1 of Li to Na recovery from authentic seawater were demonstrated, which is equivalent to the selectivity of ˜1.8×104. Also, with lake water of higher initial Li/Na ratio of 1.6×10-3, Li extraction with more than 50:1 of Li to Na recovery was achieved.

A method for extracting metal and oxygen from powdered metal oxides in electrolytic cell is proposed, the electrolytic cell comprising a container, a cathode, an anode and an oxygen-ion-conducting membrane, the method comprising providing a solid oxygen ion conducting electrolyte powder into a container, providing a feedstock comprising at least one metal oxide in powdered form into the container, applying an electric potential across the cathode and the anode, the cathode being in communication with the electrolyte powder and the anode being in communication with the membrane in communication with the electrolyte powder, such that at least one respective metallic species of the at least one metal oxide is reduced at the cathode and oxygen is oxidized at the anode to form molecular oxygen, wherein the potential across the cathode and the anode is greater than the dissociation potential of the at least one metal oxide and less than the dissociation potential of the solid electrolyte powder and the membrane.

A method for extracting metal and oxygen from powdered metal oxides in electrolytic cell is proposed, the electrolytic cell comprising a container, a cathode, an anode and an oxygen-ion-conducting membrane, the method comprising providing a solid oxygen ion conducting electrolyte powder into a container, providing a feedstock comprising at least one metal oxide in powdered form into the container, applying an electric potential across the cathode and the anode, the cathode being in communication with the electrolyte powder and the anode being in communication with the membrane in communication with the electrolyte powder, such that at least one respective metallic species of the at least one metal oxide is reduced at the cathode and oxygen is oxidized at the anode to form molecular oxygen, wherein the potential across the cathode and the anode is greater than the dissociation potential of the at least one metal oxide and less than the dissociation potential of the solid electrolyte powder and the membrane.

Provided is a method for preparing metallic titanium by anode-electrolysis of carbonized/sulfurized ilmenite, and relates to the technical field of mineral processing and electrochemical extraction of metallic titanium in molten salts in non-ferrous metallurgy. The method uses titanium-containing ore, carbon (C) and sulfur (S) as raw materials and prepares a Ti—C—S/titanium sulfide anode material with high electric conductivity through a sintering reaction, and then uses the Ti—C—S/titanium sulfide anode to prepare metallic titanium in a molten salt electrolyte system successfully. With the Ti—C—S composite soluble anode in the present invention, metallic titanium is deposited at the cathode and CS.sub.2/S.sub.2 gas is generated at the anode in the molten salt electrolysis process; in addition, the gas can be used as a raw material to effectively treat the ore to prepare titanium sulfide.

In this disclosure, a process of recycling acid, base and the salt reagents required in the Li recovery process is introduced. A membrane electrolysis cell which incorporates an oxygen depolarized cathode is implemented to generate the required chemicals onsite. The system can utilize a portion of the salar brine or other lithium-containing brine or solid waste to generate hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and carbonate salts. Simultaneous generation of acid and base allows for taking advantage of both chemicals during the conventional Li recovery from brines and mineral rocks. The desalinated water can also be used for the washing steps on the recovery process or returned into the evaporation ponds. The method also can be used for the direct conversion of lithium salts to the high value LiOH product. The method does not produce any solid effluent which makes it easy-to-adopt for use in existing industrial Li recovery plants.

In this disclosure, a process of recycling acid, base and the salt reagents required in the Li recovery process is introduced. A membrane electrolysis cell which incorporates an oxygen depolarized cathode is implemented to generate the required chemicals onsite. The system can utilize a portion of the salar brine or other lithium-containing brine or solid waste to generate hydrochloric or sulfuric acid, sodium hydroxide and carbonate salts. Simultaneous generation of acid and base allows for taking advantage of both chemicals during the conventional Li recovery from brines and mineral rocks. The desalinated water can also be used for the washing steps on the recovery process or returned into the evaporation ponds. The method also can be used for the direct conversion of lithium salts to the high value LiOH product. The method does not produce any solid effluent which makes it easy-to-adopt for use in existing industrial Li recovery plants.