Lithium hydroxide is a compound used in various industries, including the production of lithium batteries and lubricating greases. It is also used as a coloring agent and gas purifier. Its unique properties make it useful in high-performance machines and space equipment.
Lithium hydroxide is a compound formed from the soft, white metallic lithium bonded to a hydroxide group with the formula LiOH. It is commercially available in anhydrous form with no chemical bonds to water, although it is a hygroscopic chemical by nature that is also sold in monohydrate form as LiOH H2O. The compound is used in a variety of industries with popular commercial applications for manufacturing lithium batteries and as lithium hydroxide monohydrate to make lubricating greases. Lithium-based greases are stable over a wide range of temperatures and resistant to degradation, making them useful in high-performance machines such as aircraft and marine engines.
While lithium itself is a metal widely used in many industries, from optics to fusion research and the manufacturing of rubbers and plastics, lithium hydroxide has more specialized uses. Its common use as a coloring agent and battery ingredient is based on its basic properties. In nickel metal hydride batteries, lithium hydroxide is an important compound that serves to improve battery life and conductivity. It does this by precipitating or absorbing the carbon dioxide gas that is produced when the storage battery electrolyte is used, bonding it into a new solid compound of lithium and carbon in the process known as lithium carbonate, Li2CO3. The lustrous silver-white nature of lithium metal also makes lithium hydroxide a useful chemical that can be dissolved in various dyes and pigments, which enhances the color brilliance for such liquids.
As a chemical precursor for the production of lithium grease, the compound is used to produce several lithium stearate chemicals, with 12-hydroxystearate being the most popular used in industry. The use of this grease has been widespread in machinery since 2011 where high temperatures are generated, as it can withstand a heat level up to 392° Fahrenheit (200° Celsius) without breaking down. The lithium family of greases is also known to be highly resistant to water damage and degradation, which can break down other sealing greases in liquid-cooled machinery, such as automobile and construction equipment engines.
One of the more unique uses of lithium hydroxide is in gas purification. It has been incorporated into equipment used on the International Space Station (ISS) for air purification, although the units cannot be remanufactured and are being replaced by more versatile metal oxide scrubbers. When astronauts exhale carbon dioxide, lithium hydroxide reacts with it to form lithium carbonate and water, as occurs in storage batteries. The compound is still in use on the ISS as of 2011 for astronaut equipment known as the Primary Life Support System (PLSS). The PLSS is part of the backpack that an astronaut wears as a component of their extravehicular mobility unit (EMM), or space suit, for excursions outside the confines of the ISS or orbiting spacecraft.
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