October 25, 2024
Bella Peacock

from magazine pv Australia

Researchers in Australia and China have developed a breakthrough technology that allows lithium to be extracted directly from hard-to-process sources such as salt water, which they say represents a substantial part of the world’s lithium potential.

To date, up to 75% of the world’s lithium-rich saltwater resources have remained untapped due to technical limitations, but with predictions that global lithium supply may not match demand as early as 2025, researchers believe they have a game-changing solution. .

Their technology is a type of nanofiltration system that uses ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, or EDTA, as a chelating agent to selectively separate lithium from other minerals, especially magnesium, which is often present in brine and difficult to remove.

The work was jointly led by Dr Zhikao Li from the Monash Suzhou Research Institute and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in Jiangsu, China, and Prof. Xiwang Zhang from the University of Queensland in Australia.

“Our technology achieves a lithium recovery of 90%, nearly double the performance of traditional methods, while dramatically reducing the extraction time from years to just a few weeks,” said Dr. Li.

Beyond the method’s impressive efficiency, the system also addresses major environmental concerns associated with lithium extraction, according to the researchers. Unlike conventional methods that deplete vital water resources in arid regions, the technology produces fresh water as a by-product. The technology also turns the remaining magnesium into a valuable, high-quality product that can be sold, reducing waste and environmental impact.

Studies have been carried out for the technology on brine from Longmu Co Lake and Dongtai Lake in China, with the results published in the journal Nature Sustainability this week.

“High-altitude brine flats in countries such as China (Tibet and Qinghai) and Bolivia are examples of areas with harsher brine conditions that have traditionally been ignored. In remote desert areas, the large amounts of water, chemicals and infrastructure required for conventional extraction are simply not available, underscoring the need for innovative technologies,” said Dr Li.

“With Monash University’s EALNF (EDTA-assisted free nanofiltration) technology, they can now be commercially viable sources of lithium and valuable contributors to the global supply chain.”

The system is flexible and ready for large-scale use, meaning it can be quickly scaled up from testing to full industrial operations, Dr. Li added.

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