Technical Articles

Last updated: 2026-10-29 Lithium carbonate crystallization is the step that converts a purified lithium liquor into battery-grade Li₂CO₃ solid, and in most plants it is engineered around a carbonation–decarbonation loop rather than simple evaporation — the loop routinely delivers ≥99.5% Li₂CO₃ at 85–93% section lithium recovery. This article walks the route stage by stage: where…

Last updated: 2026-10-29 Sodium sulfate crystallization is decided by a single temperature: 32.4 °C. Below it, the stable solid is mirabilite (Na2SO4·10H2O) and you cool the liquor; above it, the stable solid is thenardite (Na2SO4) and you evaporate. For 10.0 m³/h of liquor saturated at 40 °C, cooling to 5 °C closes at 9.31 t/h…

Last updated: 2026-10-29 Mother liquor recovery is where crystallizer yield is won or lost: in a typical evaporative circuit, 3–8% of the dissolved product leaves in the purge stream every hour, and without a recovery step that stream is a permanent write-off (typical range, plant-specific). This guide gives process engineers the impurity balance, the bleed…

Last updated: 2026-10-29 Forced circulation vs falling film is decided by one number before any other: suspended or crystallising solids in the liquor. With any solids load, a forced circulation (FC) evaporator is the correct choice; with a clear, non-scaling liquor above roughly 4 K of available temperature difference, a falling film (FF) evaporator concentrates…

Last updated: 2026-10-29 A brine concentrator is sized from the site water balance, not from a catalogue: for a typical 25 m³/h feed at 45,000 mg/L TDS concentrating to 180,000 mg/L, the unit must remove 18.75 m³/h of water vapor, and that single number drives the heat supply, the alloy choice, and the energy bill…

Last updated: 2026-10-28 Nickel cobalt separation solvent extraction is the decisive step in every modern battery-metal refinery: a 4–8 stage circuit that lifts a mixed nickel–cobalt liquor into battery-grade sulfate products by swinging cobalt (with zinc and manganese) into an organic phase while nickel stays behind. Every feed — MHP, MSP, HPAL liquor, or battery…

Last updated: 2026-10-28 A McCabe-Thiele extraction isotherm converts measured shakeout data into a theoretical stage count: plot the equilibrium curve, draw the operating line from the plant mass balance, and step off stages between the two. For a typical 2.00 g/L copper PLS the construction gives 2 theoretical extraction stages — and any published count…

Last updated: 2026-10-28 Extractant degradation is the quiet tax on every solvent extraction circuit: left undiagnosed, organic make-up drifts from a benign 0.5–1 kg per tonne of metal toward 2–3 kg/t within a year (typical range, to be confirmed by testwork). The core diagnostic claim of this guide — built on our pillar resource for…

Last updated: 2026-10-28 Solvent extraction vs ion exchange is decided, first and last, by feed tenor: above roughly 1–2 g/L of dissolved metal and 200 m³/h of clarified solution, solvent extraction wins on inventory economics, while below about 0.5 g/L — or wherever solids cannot be filtered — ion exchange, including resin-in-pulp, is the correct…

Last updated: 2026-10-28 Mixer settler efficiency — expressed as Murphree stage efficiency — tells you how close each contact stage comes to equilibrium, and it typically runs 85–95% in well-designed hydrometallurgical service. Designing each stage for a target of 92%, instead of treating efficiency as an afterthought, is what separates circuits that hold nameplate recovery…