As the global energy transition accelerates and sustainability becomes increasingly embedded in industrial practices, the rapidly expanding lithium-ion battery industry has emerged as a key driver of economic growth and technological innovation.

The large-scale commercial deployment of adsorption-based lithium extraction has significantly improved the efficiency of lithium recovery and resource utilization. Meanwhile, increasingly stringent purity requirements for battery-grade lithium carbonate call for suitable ion exchange resins to remove impurities. Refining lithium carbonate solutions has therefore become a critical step in purification processes for the lithium-ion battery industry.

 

01 ZHENGGUANG’s Next-Generation Lithium Adsorbents

 

ZHENGGUANG offers three series of lithium adsorbents—aluminum-based, titanium-based, and manganese-based—along with advanced, comprehensive process technology packages tailored to lithium extraction from various salt lake brines, oilfield brines, and mother liquors remaining after lithium precipitation, as well as lithium recovery from waste liquids generated during lithium-ion battery dismantling.

The company’s aluminum-based lithium adsorbents are now in consistent commercial-scale production. Successive product improvements have significantly enhanced key performance characteristics, including adsorption capacity, adsorption kinetics, and low-temperature performance, delivering excellent product quality and stability.

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGLR328 Aluminum-Based Lithium Adsorbent

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGLR328 is an aluminum-based lithium adsorbent composed of an organic–inorganic composite material. It offers high mechanical strength, excellent physicochemical stability, and consistent operating performance, with dissolution loss below 0.5% over 100 adsorption–desorption cycles.

The adsorbent maintains high selectivity for lithium even at magnesium-to-lithium ratios as high as 200:1. It can be regenerated using hot water alone without introducing additional impurities, making it an environmentally friendly solution. It is particularly well suited to lithium extraction from salt lake brines with high magnesium-to-lithium ratios and lithium recovery in the lithium-ion battery recycling industry.

Application Testing of ZHENGGUANG ZGLR328 Aluminum-Based Lithium Adsorbent

 

Technical Advantages:

- High adsorption capacity: Lithium adsorption capacity of 3–6 g/L.

- High lithium recovery: Li⁺ recovery rate ≥99%.

- High selectivity: Selective lithium adsorption from brines with a magnesium-to-lithium ratio of 200:1.

- Excellent cycling stability: Long service life.

- Hot-water desorption: No additional impurities introduced.

 

02 ZHENGGUANG Resins for Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate Purification

 

With decades of experience in resin research, development, manufacturing, and application, ZHENGGUANG offers a range of impurity-removal resins and tailored process solutions to meet specific customer requirements, enhancing product quality and yield while achieving the desired purity.

To meet the stringent purity requirements for battery-grade lithium carbonate, ZHENGGUANG has developed high-performance chelating and adsorbent resins for the removal of calcium, magnesium, fluoride, and boron. These specialized resins provide advanced purification and trace impurity removal throughout the entire process of lithium extraction from brines.

 

Following ion exchange treatment, calcium and magnesium concentrations in the lithium carbonate solution are each reduced to below 0.5 ppm, while boron levels are lowered to below 1 ppm, meeting the specifications for battery-grade lithium salts.

 

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGD860 and ZGD851 are macroporous chelating resins whose chemical structures facilitate complex formation with metal ions, providing high selectivity for calcium and magnesium. They are used to remove calcium and magnesium from lithium chloride, lithium bicarbonate, and lithium sulfate solutions, reducing residual concentrations to below 0.5 ppm and preventing the subsequent formation of sparingly soluble precipitates in lithium sulfate solutions.

 

These resins offer excellent physical and chemical stability, including resistance to abrasion, osmotic stress, oxidation, and elevated temperatures. Their consistent performance helps ensure stable industrial operation.

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGD851 Resin Image

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGD870B is a boron-selective resin that removes boron from aqueous solutions by forming stable complexes with borate ions. Treatment with ZGD870B reduces the boron content in lithium chloride and lithium carbonate solutions to below 1 ppm, fully meeting the stringent boron purity requirements for battery-grade lithium carbonate.

 

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGD870B Resin Image

 

ZGF860 ZGF860 Specialty Resin for Fluoride Removal from Lithium Bicarbonate Solutions

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGF860 is a specialized fluoride-removal resin consisting of a macroporous polymer incorporating active aluminum. The active aluminum sites strongly complex fluoride ions, providing high selectivity for fluoride in aqueous solutions and reducing fluoride concentrations to below 1 mg/L.

 

Applications include fluoride removal from lithium bicarbonate solutions in lithium-ion battery recycling, fluoride recovery in the fluorochemical industry, and fluoride removal in wastewater reclamation and reuse. It is particularly well suited to fluoride removal from high-salinity solutions under alkaline conditions.

 

ZHENGGUANG ZGF860 Resin Image

 

ZHENGGUANG continues to expand its presence in the new energy sector, drawing on its core expertise in adsorption and separation technologies to overcome critical bottlenecks in lithium resource development and enable efficient utilization of China’s salt lake lithium resources. Through advanced materials, the company supports industrial upgrading and builds a world-class materials foundation for the green, sustainable development of the new energy industry.