The conversion of α-spodumene was performed using two different CO/CH thermal reductive plasma reactors. Using one configuration, particle size was proven to have a major role in lithium extraction. Lithium extraction efficiency decreases if the particles are too large. The third phase γ-spodumene is less reactive than β-spodumene and has a negative effect on lithium extraction. The other configuration showed that thermal plasmas were able to perform spodumene conversion with results close to that of traditional heating methods, electrical heating or gas burners. Thermal plasmas were proven to decrepitate coarse particles into micrometric particles with a lithium content increase in lower sized fractions. The lithium extraction was proven to be possible on plasma converted samples with lithium extraction efficiencies similar to that of classical heating methods for the lower sized fractions. This means that thermal plasmas could be used to replace CO and NO emitting heating methods such as gas burners in spodumene conversion with similar results while consuming harmful gases instead of producing them, reducing the environmental impact of the process.

中文翻译：

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锂辉石精矿的还原热等离子体转化及其对锂提取的影响

α-锂辉石的转化是使用两种不同的 CO/CH 热还原等离子体反应器进行的。使用一种配置，颗粒尺寸被证明在锂提取中具有重要作用。如果颗粒太大，锂提取效率会降低。第三相γ-锂辉石的反应性低于β-锂辉石，并且对锂提取有负面影响。另一种配置表明，热等离子体能够进行锂辉石转化，其结果与传统加热方法、电加热或燃气燃烧器的结果接近。事实证明，热等离子体可将粗颗粒爆裂成微米级颗粒，并且较小尺寸部分中的锂含量增加。锂提取被证明可以在等离子体转化的样品上进行，其锂提取效率类似于用于较小尺寸级分的经典加热方法。这意味着热等离子体可用于取代排放 CO 和 NO 的加热方法，例如锂辉石转化中的气体燃烧器，具有类似的结果，同时消耗有害气体而不是产生有害气体，从而减少该过程对环境的影响。