Life Cycle Environmental Impact Analysis of Lithium Extraction from Lepidolite
Driven by the enormous demand for lithium carbonate in the electric vehicle market,the abundant lepidolite resources in Yichun,Jiangxi,have been mined and rapidly developed into lithium carbonate production capacity.To study the environmental impacts of lithium extraction from lepidolite,a life cycle assessment(LCA)tool was used to construct a full life cycle model for lepidolite through the two stages of ore beneficiation and lithium carbonate production.The CML-IA Baseline method was employed to analyze the environmental impact of lepidolite-based lithium extraction from cradle to gate.The results indicate that in the lepidolite-based lithium extraction process,the main raw material inputs and pollutant emissions occur during the lithium carbonate production stage,with impact values in 11 categories such as non-biological consumption,fossil fuel consumption,and global warming being 13 to 25 times greater than those in the ore beneficiation stage.During the lithium carbonate production stage,electricity,quicklime,and sulfuric acid are the major contributors to various environmental impact categories.The transportation of lithium ore contributes minimally to the overall environmental impact of the lithium extraction life cycle,and import of spodumene concentrate from Australia directly is the alternative with the least environmental impact.Considering that lithium-ion batteries account for only 15％of the environmental impact over the full life cycle of electric vehicles,using lepidolite to produce lithium carbonate does not pose an additional environmental burden.
万方数据
维普
