LAUSR

Abstract The organic synergists, including Octanol, ethyl acetate (EA), butyl acetate (BA), methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), diisobutyl ketone (DIBK), N,N-bis(2-ethylhexyl) acetamide (N523) and 8-hydroxylquiolate, were added to the TBP–FeCl3 extraction system to extract lithium from brine. The effects of concentration of organic synergist and total organic extractant, molar ratio of Fe/Li, phase ratio, counter-current extraction and the acidity of stripping agent on lithium extraction were investigated to optimize the extraction conditions. Under the optimize conditions, the results of counter-current extraction showed the mixed extraction system was the preponderance on the lithium extraction. Especially the separation of lithium in organic phase and aqueous phase and the separation mass ratio of Mg/Li increased greatly. An extraction mechanism was proposed based on the analysis of FT-IR spectra and Raman spectra.