Recovery of Lithium from Seawater by Manganese Oxide Adsorbent

Abstract
Ion-sieve (microporous) type manganese oxide (HMnO) was prepared by acid treatment of lithium-introduced manganese oxide which was obtained from γ-type manganese oxide and lithium hydroxide. The HMnO showed high selectivity for lithium ions in seawater. The maximum lithium uptake by the HMnO from seawater reached 7.8 mg/g which corresponded to a lithium content of 1.7% as Li2O. The adsorbed lithium could be easily eluted with 0.01 or 0.05 M hydrochloric acid solution. The adsorptive capacity for lithium ion scarcely changed during five repetitions of the adsorption-elution cycle. The column test was carried out by using granulated HMnO which was prepared with polyacrylic hydrazide as a binder.