Lithium sulfate is a colorless monoclinic or hexagonal crystalline solid. It is the lithium salt of sulfuric acid. Although lithium sulfate solution is prepared in a large quantity as an intermediate in the spodumene-sulfuric acid process, the pure compound has only limited industrial use. It is used in small quantities in molten salt baths for the chemical strengthening of glass.
The dissolved lithium sulfate is converted into lithium carbonate by adding sodium carbonate (NaCO3).The sodium replaces the lithium in the sulfate compound.This reaction works this way because sodium is more reactive than lithium.
Lithium sulfate is used in making a special type of high strength glass. It
also is used in medicine as an antidepressant.
Lithium sulfate is prepared by neutralization of lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate with sulfuric acid followed by crystallization:
2LiOH + H2SO4 → Li2SO4 + H2O
Li2CO3 + H2SO4 → Li2SO4 + CO2 + H2O
The product obtained from crystallization in a concentrated solution is the monohydrate, Li2SO4•H2O. Anhydrous salt is obtained by heating the monohydrate in a vacuum.
Lithium sulfate, anhydrous is used to treat bipolar disorder, solar panels and the potential for a new class of battery, and used as a catalyst for the elimination reaction.
Industrially lithium sulfate and its monohydrate
are prepared by the same basic procedure. Lithium sulfate monohydrate is isolated by
evaporation of a solution of lithium sulfate made by the reaction of sulfuric acid with either
lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate. The lithium sulfate monohydrate may be converted
to anhydrous lithium sulfate by drying at slightly over 100°C.
ChEBI: Lithium sulfate is a metal sulfate in which the counterion is lithium and the ratio of lithium to sulfate is 2:1. It has a role as an antidepressant. It contains a lithium(1+).
Flammability and Explosibility
Non flammable
Crystallise it from H2O (4mL/g) by partial evaporation, and dry it above 130o in vacuo.
