A new membrane marks an important step toward more efficient extraction of lithium which is needed for reusable batteries. The design can also be used to extract other essential elements like cobalt and nickel.
“Our goal was to develop a material that can extract lithium with minimum environmental impact,” says Qilin Li, co-director of Rice University’s Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT) Centre, USA.
“The smart design principles we used to develop the membrane architecture have ensured it can be adapted to help recover many other valuable resources from various waste streams.”
Currently, it is estimated that 87% of the lithium extracted is used to create batteries like those used in electric vehicles, laptops and smartphones. This lithium is commonly extracted from saltwater lakes or brines through an inefficient process that involves evaporation and chemical treatments.
“The most widely used large-scale lithium extraction method today requires massive evaporation ponds and chemical precipitation,” says Li.
“The process can take over a year to reach the target concentration and has fairly low lithium recovery rates. It also uses a lot of water, often in places that already experience water scarcity, and produces considerable amounts of chemical waste.”
The membrane developed by the team extracts lithium using considerably less energy, while maintaining higher selectivity.
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