Albemarle is a leading USA specialty chemicals company. Its lithium mine at Greenbush W.A. supplies 30% of the world’s lithium production in 2016, in the form of high quality spodumene. Albemarle is developing a plant in nearby Kemerton, to convert the spodumene into lithium hydroxide monohydrate.

Albemarle’s Kemerton plant will initially comprise two trains, each producing 20,000 tpa LiOH.H₂O.   Each train requires several crystalliser units that remove impurities from the lithium product. JordProxa will supply various crystallizer modules.  Services include Caustisation evaporation, Anhydrous Sodium Sulphate crystallisation and Sulphate of Potash crystallization.  The purpose is to separate sodium from lithium, with minimal lithium loss and the least retention of sodium in the product stream. A further objective is to handle the lithium plant waste streams in an environmentally sensitive manner that enables Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).

The forced circulation crystallisers will operate continuously for long run lengths, providing safe and efficient plant operation with minimal operator intervention. Tailored design features ensure low energy usage and minimum operating costs are achieved without compromise to product purity or recovery.

Residence times and slurry densities in the crystallizers are carefully controlled to produce well-sized crystals which can be separated with low residual contents of entrained liquor. Continuous, high efficiency cake washing is employed on the pusher centrifuges to greatly reduce the concentration of any impurities in the entrained liquor. The overall energy input to the plant, both as steam and electrical power, has been minimised by using mechanical vapour recompression at high compression ratios for all evaporative vessels.