Lithium recovery from aqueous resources and batteries: A brief review

The demand for lithium is expected to increase drastically in the near future due to the increased usage of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIB) in electric vehicles, smartphones and other portable electronics. To alleviate the potential risk of undersupply, lithium can be extracted from raw sources consisting of minerals and brines or from recycled batteries and glasses. Aqueous lithium mining from naturally occurring brines and salt deposits is advantageous compared to extraction from minerals, since it may be more environmentally friendly and cost-effective. In this article, we briefly discuss the adsorptive behaviour, synthetic methodology and prospects or challenges of major sorbents including spinel lithium manganese oxide (Li-Mn-O or LMO), spinel lithium titanium oxide (Li-Ti-O or LTO) and lithium aluminium layered double hydroxide chloride (LiCl•2Al(OH)₃). Membrane approaches and lithium recovery from end-of-life LIB will also be briefly discussed.