Synthesizing Lithium Sorbents Using Acid Mine Drainage Solids

Abstract

In this study, we prepared HMO from coal mine drainage (CMD) solids and examined the practicability of recovering Li from oil and gas produced waters and geothermal brines. We aim to innovate high-value added products from the existing extract REEs and CMs processing chain of legacy byproducts associated with coal production. CMD solids, which are precipitates collected from exhausted limestone gravels of passive CMD treatment beds, are enriched in rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical minerals (CMs), and therefore, considered as a viable alternative source for REEs/CMs to supply the Nation’s demands. A patented extraction process developed by NETL (TREE) has been demonstrated as a cost-effective and efficient approach to recover REEs/CMs from CMD solids. Here, we selected residuals of CMD solids from the TREE process that are enriched in manganese (Mn) (>20% w/w) and successfully prepared LMO using a solid-state method modified from Yoshizuka et al. (2002).