Numerical Simulation of Electrodialysis Desalination for Multicomponent Salt Lake Brine

Electrodialysis (ED) technology is presently recognized as an effective approach for extracting lithium from salt lake brine. This study concentrates on modeling the ED desalination process applied to multicomponent salt lake brine and equivalent NaCl solutions. Ion separation is achieved through the use of ED units, and a mathematical model grounded in the Nernst‐Planck equation was formulated employing COMSOL software to describe the steady‐state transport phenomena of binary electrolytes during the desalination process of salt lake brine. The results demonstrate that the simulation outcomes of ED models employing NaCl and multicomponent brine exhibit no significant differences (less than 3%). This study presents and compares two representative multicomponent salt lake brines characterized by distinct ion concentrations and magnesium‐to‐lithium (Mg/Li) ratios: X Taijinar Salt Lake and Atacama Salt Lake, which exhibit Mg/Li ratios of 64.3 and 6.4, respectively. The ionic compositions analyzed include Li + , Na + , K + , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Cl − , and SO 4 2− . Salt lake brines exhibited similar flux distributions and output parameters (current density, potential) as equivalent NaCl solutions. The negligible difference supports applying the NaCl model to ED simulations of salt lake brines, providing a theoretical basis for Mg 2+ /Li + separation studies.