中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
| Vol. 36 No. 3 March 2026 |
（a School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
b School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
c Jiangxi Yunwei New Materials Co., Ltd., Yichun 330700, China;
d National Engineering Research Centre of Advanced Energy Storage Materials, Changsha 410205, China;
e School of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China）
Abstract:The leaching process and kinetic behavior of lepidolite in hydrochloric acid were explored systematically. The influence of leaching conditions on the leaching efficiency of valuable metals in lepidolite was investigated. Under optimized conditions, the leaching efficiencies of Li, K, Rb, Cs and Al are 92.02%, 93.31%, 88.59%, 86.75% and 81.07%, respectively. Kinetics research results show that the leaching process conforms to the shrinking core model that is under the mixed control of chemical reaction and diffusion through the solid product layer. In addition, the contribution of solid product layer diffusion to the leaching gradually expands as the temperature rises, but it is still significantly less than the contribution of chemical reaction. Cost saving in the neutralizing agent and leaching processes makes hydrochloric acid an economical leaching agent for lepidolite. Finally, the Li2CO3 product with a purity of 99.89% was synthesized from the hydrochloric acid leachate.
Key words: lepidolite; lithium extraction; hydrochloric acid leaching; kinetics
