Synthesis and characterization of zeolite X from lithium slag

Lithium slag was used as raw material to synthesize zeolite X by hydrothermal reaction with alkaline fusion. The synthesized zeolite (NaX-1) and commercial zeolite X (NaX) were characterized by XRD, SEM, IR, TG-DTA and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. Also, water adsorption isotherms were determined by vacuum gravimetric method. Zeolite NaX-1 has similar performance to commercial zeolite X, its specific surface area and the dominant pore size are 847 m2 g − 1 and 0.859 nm, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity of NaX-1 for water vapor is 0.3208 kg/kg, i.e. it is comparable to NaX (0.3303 kg/kg).

► Lithium slag is the solid by-product generated in the production of lithium carbonate bysulfuric acid method.
► In this paper, we synthesized zeolite X from lithium slag by hydrothermal reaction with alkaline fusion, and found that zeolite X has similar performances to commercial zeolite X.
► Thus, this study has revealed, for the first time, efficient utilization of lithium slag tozeolite is possible.
► Our findings challenge the classic view of lithium slag usage.
► These results may also have implications in the utilizing extensively and efficiently lithium slag.