Spodumene is a lithium aluminium silicate which can exist in α, β and γ modifications. Phase
transformations of spodumene concentrate from the beneficiation plant in Greenbushes,
Western Australia, were studied under a conventional method of heating. Spodumene
concentrate was heated in a muffle furnace at 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000, 1050 and 1100° C
for 10, 20, 30 and 60 min in order to evaluate the effect of temperature and heating time on
the amount of α-spodumene converted to β-spodumene, and also to assess the possibility of …

Spodumene in its natural α-spodumene modification is a refractory silicate interlocking
lithium species. Therefore, in order to effectively extract the lithium, its alteration to the less
densely packed β-spodumene modification is necessary. The current method used for the
conversion to β-spodumene is calcination at 950–1100° C using conventional heating.
However this is an energy intensive approach. The use of microwave irradiation as an
alternative, potentially less energy intensive, method of heating is examined in this work …