From coal and oil to power batteries, the energy transition is profoundly changing production and life. With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, lithium batteries have become a hot topic, hailed as the "oil of the new era."

Lithium is a highly reactive element, usually found in the Earth's crust in the form of compounds, mainly distributed in salt lake brines, hard rock lithium mines, and lithium clay deposits. Due to limitations in production costs and process maturity, mineral extraction of lithium is currently one of the main ways to obtain lithium resources.

More Lithium Ore Processing Equipment

Lithium Ore Resources and Processing Flow

Lithium ore is usually an associated mineral with a low grade; the precious lithium resources often coexist with other substances. To separate the single lithium resource, lithium spodumene, lepidolite, and other lithium ores need to undergo a series of professional processing steps, including crushing and screening, grinding and classification, flotation purification, and tailings magnetic separation. Crushing, screening, and grinding of lithium ore are at the forefront of the entire process.

Preliminary Crushing and Screening

Lithium ore mined from the mine is usually large in size and needs to be initially crushed using a jaw crusher. The coarse material is then sent to a cone crusher for further crushing, and the output enters a vibrating screen for pre-screening. Materials with acceptable particle size enter the fine crushing cone crusher, and unqualified materials are returned for further crushing. Finally, the fine material below 15mm is sent to the next grinding stage.

Grinding and Flotation

The calcined lithium ore has high hardness and is difficult to grind; a vertical roller mill is recommended. This equipment integrates crushing, drying, grinding, classification, and conveying, and can process medium-to-high hardness ores, with a single-machine output of 6-80 tons per hour. The finished product fineness of lithium ore generally needs to be ground to 200 mesh to obtain better flotation results and ensure the uniformity of mixing in downstream production processes. The classifier of the vertical mill uses a cage-type classifier and a conical rotor classifier, which has high classification accuracy and stable product quality, meeting the high-precision processing requirements of lithium ore in the new energy field.

Technological and Equipment Innovation

In the lithium ore processing process, advanced equipment and processes are crucial. As a leading enterprise in the industry, Shibang Group provides a variety of efficient ore crushing and grinding solutions. For example, SBM Group's hydraulic cone crusher not only improves production efficiency but also significantly reduces energy consumption and maintenance costs, providing strong support for the efficient utilization of lithium resources.

Conclusion

With the continuous advancement of new energy technologies, the efficient utilization of lithium resources has become a focus of attention in the industry. By continuously optimizing lithium ore processing technologies and equipment, we can better meet the demand for lithium resources in new energy vehicles and other fields, and propel the energy transition to new heights.