Prednáška „Assessments of Ethiopian Kenticha Pegmatite-Spodumene ore by Advanced Instrumentals to determine its responsiveness to processing for the Extraction of Li, Ta, Nb, Li2CO3 & Nb2O5//Au & Cu": A basic for battery storage applications“
Katedra analytickej chémie
vás pozýva na prednášku
dňa 4. apríla 2025 o 10.00 hod
v seminárnej miestnosti prof. D. Kanianskeho (CH2-331).
Prednášajúci:
Goitom Gebreyohannes Berhe, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering; Senior Lecturer of Inorganic Chemistry and Mineral Processing, Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
Téma prednášky:
„Assessments of Ethiopian Kenticha Pegmatite-Spodumene ore by Advanced Instrumentals to determine its responsiveness to processing for the Extraction of Li, Ta, Nb, Li2CO3 & Nb2O5//Au & Cu": A basic for battery storage applications“
Abstrakt prednášky
Goitom Gebreyohannes Berhe, Ph.D
Associate Professor of Metallurgical Engineering
Senior Lecturer of Inorganic Chemistry and Mineral Processing,
Department of Chemistry, College of Natural and Computational Sciences, Mekelle University, Ethiopia
Title:
Assessments of Ethiopian Kenticha Pegmatite-Spodumene ore by Advanced Instrumentals to determine its responsiveness to processing for the Extraction of Li, Ta, Nb, Li2CO3 & Nb2O5//Au & Cu": A basic for battery storage applications
Abstract
This seminar presentation presents an overview of the currently mined tantalite ores in Ethiopia (in particular Kenticha ores) and potentialities to extract lithium (Li), niobium (Nb) and tantalum (Ta) products using alternative technologies. The demand for Li, Nb and Ta has increased enormously for its applications in the nuclear engine, data, and energy storage sectors. The foremost source of Li, Nb, and Ta is the pegmatite-spodumene tantalite mineral, and pegmatites-spodumene constitute the second major Li resource. The beneficiation methods for Ethiopian Kenticha pegmatite–spodumene ores were assessed through mineralogical and quantitative analyses with ToF-ERDA, PIXE, EDXRF, XRD and EDS.
The upper zone of the Kenticha pegmatite–spodumene deposit composed of higher concentrations and wt% of Li, Nb, and Ta. From this concentrated mineral, the extraction of pegmatite-spodumene ore was applied using calcination, leaching, selective stripping, precipitation, and drying of a crystalline pure 99.4% of Li2CO3, 99.84 wt% of Nb2O5 and amorphous 90.81 wt% of Ta2O5. The compositions of the dissolved metal ions and solids were analyzed by the ICP-OES, EDXRF, XRD, and FT-IR techniques. The extracted Li2CO3, Nb2O5 and Ta2O5 are and excellent foundations for the applications of battery storage and it is recommended to for the future study.
This study also focused on the leaching and extraction behavior of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) from a high-grade Ethiopian pegmatite ore in a mixture of hydrofluoric acid and sulfuric acid has been investigated. The effects of variables such as the temperature, particle size, acid concentration, and leaching time were studied. Overall, the highest dissolution of uranium and thorium were achieved at 100 °C, 70 wt% H2SO4 concentration and 1 hr contact time
Parallel to this study, the assessment of sulfides and oxides minerals of gold and copper of Ethiopian ores were examined using ToF-ERDA, PIXE, XRD and EDS spectroscopies. Further study will be needed to extract both Cu and Au for electronic applications, may be in alloying or depositions with the Li2CO3, Nb2O5 and Ta2O5.
Keywords: Au, Battery and data storage, Cu, Electronics, Extraction, Kenticha, Leaching, Li, Nb, pegmatite-spodumne, Ta, Th, and U.
Note: The Ethiopian mineral ores are available during the presentation; free to take for deposition and further studies!!!