Profile
| Keywords: | Critical Minerals, Mineral Processing, Lithium Direct Extraction, Sustainability |
Dr. Xia is an assistant professor in Chemical and Materials Engineering at U of A. She is a mineral engineer with an impressive 15-year career dedicated to applied research and development in the field. Her early professional journey was with Central South University in China and Surface Science Western at the University of Western Ontario. She joined the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) in 2018 with world-leading expertise in rare earth processing, where she became a senior research engineer, gaining invaluable experience in operations, research, and consulting. Lucy’s major areas of focus include the processing of critical minerals in a greener and more circular way. Her current research interests are in extractive metallurgy including solvent extraction, purification and crystalization, with an emphasis on sustainability. FES Funded ProjectsOutputs
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| Applications of Solvent-driven Crystallization in Hydrometallurgy: Current Status and Future PerspectivesThis review explores the fundamental principles of solvent-driven crystallization and summarizes its current applications in desalination, rare earth element (REE) recovery, and lithium compound production. Studies on the effectiveness of various antisolvents in crystallization and operational conditions such as addition methods, solvent-to-aqueous phase ratios, and control strategies, are comprehensively reviewed. Key challenges, including crystal size constraints, scalability limitations, and antisolvent inclusion are discussed. Additionally, future research directions are proposed to optimize solvent selection, process control, and industrial scalability. T06-Q08 University of Alberta | Publication | 2025-04-27 | | | Determination of activation energy and kinetic test of antisolvent crystallization of lithium hydroxideProduction of LiOH.H2O by antisolvent crystallization using EtOH were studied. Tests were performed under different temperature, time, and volume ratio of aqueous solutions and antisolvents. Kinetic of the antisolvent crystallization was investigated using Avrami model. The activation energy was calculated from the fitted data using Arrhenius equation and was found to be 2 kJ/mol, indicating that this process is diffusion-controlled.
T06-Q08 University of Alberta | Publication | 2025-04-27 | | | Advances in Lithium Recovery from Dilute and Complex Waters: A Comprehensive ReviewCanada, particularly Western Canada, holds significant potential for future lithium production, with brine resources enriched in lithium associated with oil and gas reservoirs. These deep-formation waters, unlike conventional lithium-rich sources such as salt lake brines, contain only 10 to 150 ppm of lithium, and are therefore classified as unconventional, dilute lithium-bearing resources. In recent years, several review articles have summarized lithium extraction technologies, often primarily focusing on high-salinity brines and the separation of lithium from magnesium. This review provides a comprehensive overview of current technologies and recent developments specifically focused on extracting lithium from such diluted brines. T06-Q08 University of Alberta | Publication | 2025-04-27 | |
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