International Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

International Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

Lithium Extraction by Metal Organic Framework-Based Adsorbent (MnO2@Co/Zn ZIF) from Aqueous Solutions

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
2 Material and Nuclear Fuel Research School (MNFRS), Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
Abstract
   Lithium is one of the critical elements in the development of industries, and its amount in seawater and brines (2.5×1011 tonnes) is estimated to be about 16,000 times more than land-based resources. However, the low lithium concentration in seawater (0.17 ppm) requires an efficient and selective method of lithium extraction. Although metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are widely utilized for removing or extracting heavy metals from seawater, they have not been extensively employed for lithium extraction from such sources. This research used a bimetallic MOF-based adsorbent (MnO2@Co/Zn ZIF) to extract lithium ions from the solution. The effects of Li+ concentration and contact time on adsorption were investigated. Based on kinetic studies, the pseudo-second-order model adequately represents the kinetic behavior of lithium adsorption. The thermodynamic study demonstrated lithium adsorption with MnO2@Co/Zn ZIF is endothermic, spontaneous, and physisorption. The adsorption process fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm (R2=0.994), and this isotherm showed the maximum adsorption capacity at room temperature to be 71.43 mg/g. The desorption process was carried out with an HCl solution and showed that MnO2@Co/Zn ZIF has excellent desorption ability. In addition, it was demonstrated that the adsorbent could be used for lithium adsorption after three cycles of regeneration. Moreover, MnO2@Co/Zn ZIF is a viable candidate for recovering large amounts of lithium ions from solutions, based on the results.
Keywords

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