近日，美国麻省理工学院Yet-Ming Chiang团队报道了锂硬岩精矿向电池原料及大宗商品产品的增值转化。相关论文于2026年5月28日发表在《科学》杂志上。

为满足日益增长的锂电池需求，锂化学品的产量亟待提升。锂辉石 [LiAl(SiO₃)₂] 是一种储量丰富的锂矿物资源，但其提取成本相较于盐湖卤水资源缺乏竞争力。目前的锂辉石精炼方法能耗高、废料多，需要高温焙烧（>1000°C）和化学浸出。

研究组展示了一种低温、近零废料的工艺，可将α-锂辉石转化为电池级碳酸锂（Li₂CO₃）、冶炼级氧化铝（Al₂O₃）和胶凝性二氧化硅（SiO₂）。该工艺使用氟化铵（NH₄F）水溶液作为试剂，在低于100°C条件下溶解矿物原料，并通过闭环流程实现试剂的再生。技术经济分析表明，该方法有望将α-锂辉石生产锂的成本降低40%以上，并实现与卤水提锂的成本持平。

附：英文原文

Title: Valorization of lithium hardrock concentrates into battery raw materials and commodity products

Author: Benjamin A. W. Mowbray, Camden Hunt, Kalyn M. Fuelling, Jacqueline Prawira, Khashayar Jafari, Naia Strong, Yet-Ming Chiang

Issue&Volume: 2026-05-28

Abstract: The production of lithium chemicals needs to increase to meet rising demand for lithium batteries. Spodumene [LiAl(SiO3)2] is an abundant mineral source of lithium, but its extraction is not cost-competitive with brine resources. Current spodumene-refining methods are energy- and waste-intensive, requiring high-temperature roasting (>1000°C) and chemical leaching. We demonstrate a low-temperature, near-zero-waste process that converts α-spodumene into battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3), smelter-grade alumina (Al2O3), and cementitious silica (SiO2). Aqueous ammonium fluoride (NH4F) is used as the reagent to solubilize the mineral feedstock at <100°C in a closed-loop process that regenerates the reagent. Techno-economic analysis indicates that this approach may reduce the cost of producing lithium from α-spodumene by >40% and enable cost parity with brines.

DOI: aec4652

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec4652