Name | spodumene |
Synonyms | spodumene spodumenite beta-Spodumene Spodumene (alli(sio3)2) 12068-40-5 ((H2Sio3)aluminum.si salt) |
CAS | 66057-55-4 |
Physical and Chemical Properties | Spodumene is one of the main lithium-containing minerals, also known as type 2 spodumene. Monoclinic system, the crystal is often columnar, granular or plate-like. The color is gray, gray green, emerald green, purple or yellow. Glass luster, colorless streaks. Hardness 6.5~7, density 3.03~3.22g/cm3. Spodumene is mainly produced in lithium-rich granite pegmatite. The symbiotic minerals include quartz, albite, and microplagioclase. Crystals will change color when heated or exposed to ultraviolet rays, and will lose their luster under the action of sunlight. When roasted to about 1000 ℃, it quickly transforms into β-spodumene and has thermal cracking properties. |
introduction | spodumene has the chemical formula of LiAlSi2O6, which can contain Cr, Mn rare elements, rare earth elements, k, cs and other elements. It can also contain a small amount of neonite and jadeite molecules. It is a monoclinic system with a symmetry of 2/m. The crystal structure is similar to diopside. The difference from diopside is that Li at the M2 position is coordinated six times; the three adjacent bridges on the [SiO4] chain The bond angle between oxygen is 170.5 °. It has three homogeneous multi-image variants: α, β, and γ. |
physical properties | spodumene has longitudinal lines on the crystal plane, and cleave along {110} completely. The color is light gray and white, often with green, yellow-green and lavender tones. Gem-grade spodumene mainly contains emerald green spodumene with Cr, and purple spodumene with manganese and purple. The hardness is 6.5-7.0 and the specific gravity is 3.13-3.20. |
application | spodumene reacts with sulfuric acid at high temperature (250 ℃) and leaches lithium sulfate solution, lithium sulfate reacts with excess soda ash to generate lithium carbonate, and sodium sulfate mother liquor containing lithium and excess soda ash evaporates and crystallizes to obtain sodium sulfate by-products after neutralizing and removing carbonate, lithium-containing secondary mother liquor (sodium evolution mother liquor) and then secondary lithium precipitation (reaction with sodium carbonate) to obtain lower grade lithium carbonate. |
use | spodumene is the main mineral raw material for extracting Li, and transparent and beautiful can be used as gem raw material. Spodumene is currently the main industrial mineral raw material for lithium chemicals. Lithium bromide, lithium chloride, lithium hydroxide and other lithium compounds are widely used in air conditioning, refrigeration, dehumidification and air purification; butyl lithium is used as a polymerization catalyst for the main heterosexual rubber and synthetic rubber; lithium-based grease is used for military mechanization Equipment, petrochemical equipment, precision instruments, etc.; lithium batteries are used for pacemakers, hearing aids, pocket computers, flash lamps, electronic watches and other electronic devices. Metal lithium and lithium materials are also widely used in atomic energy, aviation, aerospace, military, metallurgy, electronics, glass, ceramics, machinery manufacturing and other industrial sectors. The use of lithium is constantly expanding, and new uses are being developed for controllable thermonuclear fusion reactors and lithium carbonate solution fuel cells. Lithium is the future "energy" metal and is expected to become an important fuel for long-term energy supply to mankind. |
production method | there are open-pit mining and underground mining. The beneficiation methods are manual sorting, flotation, heavy medium separation, magnetic separation, and thermal separation (also known as thermal cracking separation). The beneficiation process of spodumene from Keketuohai Mining Bureau, Fuyun County, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is as follows: |