Kinetic study on the chlorination of beta spodumene for lithium extraction with Cl2 gas

LUCÍA ISABEL BARBOSA; NORMA GRACIELA VALENTE; JORGE ALBERTO GONZÁLEZ

THERMOCHIMICA ACTA

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 557 p. 61 - 67

0040-6031

In this paper, the kinetics chlorination of beta spodumene for the extraction of lithium has been studied using gaseous chlorine as chlorinating agent. The effect of chlorine flow rate, temperature, mass of the sample, and partial pressure of Cl2 was investigated. The study of the effect of chlorine flow rate indicated that the chlorination of beta spodumene may be carried out in the presence of active chlorinating species. The chlorine partial pressure was found to have an appreciable effect on the system reactivity. The temperature was found to be the most important variable affecting the reaction rate. The beta spodumene chlorination process by Cl2 was characterized by an apparent activation energy of about 359 kJ/mol in the range from 1000 to 1100 °C. Reaction was of non-catalytic gas?solid nature and experimental data fitted the sequential nucleation and growth model.