LAUSR

Abstract With the increasing demand for lithium battery, the use amount of Li2CO3 has substantially increased, especially for the well-dispersed fine particles. However, preparing and reducing the size of battery-grade Li2CO3 by the thermal decomposition method is still a challenge. In this work, a rotating packed bed (RPB) reactor was applied to prepare well-dispersed fine Li2CO3 particles by thermal decomposition of LiHCO3. Selection of dispersants in the thermal decomposition process was carried out as the first step and then ethanol was selected as the optimal dispersant, compared with polyethylene glycol (PEG) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). Effects of the volume fraction of dispersant, rotational speed, liquid flow rate, steam mass flow rate, and preheating temperature on the particle size were investigated. The median particle size (d50) of Li2CO3 product obtained in this study can meet the requirement of Chinese National Nonferrous Metal Industry Standard of battery-grade Li2CO3 (YS/T582-2013) by adjusting the operation parameters appropriately, which displays the potential and considerable application prospects.