Resumen

ZAMORA E, Gerardo; GUTIERREZ, Jorge  y  CONDE, Omar. Bases técnicas para el diseño conceptual sustentable para la producción de carbonato de litio de las salmueras del salar de Coipasa. REV. MAMYM [online]. 2024, vol.9, n.1, pp.61-77. ISSN 2519-5352.

Abstract In Bolivia, the altiplano is an endorheic basin of ±200,000 km2 located at 4000 meters above sea level that is located between the Western and Eastern Cordillera, and due to its meteorological characteristics that said basin presents, it has ideal conditions for the formation of evaporitic environments. Two broad salt coasts fill the central Altiplano: they are known as Salar de Uyuni (10,000 km², 3,653 m) and Salar de Coipasa (2,500 km², 3,656 m). The Salar de Coipasa (68°8'W, 19°23'S), is the second largest salt flat in the Bolivian Altiplano, and is located northwest of the Salar de Uyuni. The Coipasa salt flat is of greater importance as a strategic lithium resource for the department of Oruro in Bolivia. Within the framework of the Federal Directorate of International Cooperation (DGCI) (1996-2000), the Belgian University of Liege and the Technical University of Oruro, have carried out a systematic survey of the Salar de Coipasa with a 2 by 2 km mesh and extracted brine samples whose chemical analysis results showed an average lithium concentration of 339.1 mg/L and Mg/Li and SO₄/Li ratios of 42.74 and 83.14, respectively, foreseeing lithium extraction by the conventional process through evaporation pools and subsequent. impurity elimination stages until obtaining LiCO₃ below 20% by removing lithium in the products of the enrichment stage by crystallization and in the elimination of precipitation impurities. On the other hand, evaporation in the Salar de Coipasa area is less than 1500 mm and river rainfall ranges between 100 and 200 mm; Therefore, to achieve a production greater than 15,000 t of LiCO₃, more than 3,000 hectares of evaporation pools would be required, with treatment times longer than 18 months of operation. Therefore, the possibility of extracting lithium from Coipasa brines through conventional processes is described as "technically difficult." That is, the extraction of lithium from the Coipasa salt flat should be carried out by the direct extraction method, considering its competitive advantages of greater efficiency, short extraction times, competitive costs and significantly a smaller water footprint. The proposed process involves the adsorption-desorption process, membranes and reverse osmosis, it would constitute the most appropriate process for obtaining LiCO₃ from the brines of the Coipasa salt flat, an area of high water scarcity.

Palabras clave : Salar de Coipasa; Lithium extraction from brines; EDL of Coipasa brines.

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