Breakthrough technique could produce lithium in hours not months, cutting cost of electric car batteries
- Early studies indicate about 90 per cent of contained lithium can be recovered using the filter system
- Lithium prices have tumbled since mid-2018 as a raft of new mine projects have lifted supply and amid weaker demand in China
A new filtration technique could cut the time needed to produce lithium raw materials at South America’s vast evaporation ponds to hours from months, according to a study by a group of international scientists.
The method, developed by researchers at Australia’s national science institute CSIRO, Monash University, the University of Melbourne and the University of Texas at Austin, mimics the filtering capabilities of living cells to extract lithium from concentrated salt water, where the metal is typically mixed with other materials, including potassium and salt.
“We could one day have the capability to produce simple filters that will take hours to extract lithium from brine, rather than several months to years,” said Huanting Wang, a professor of chemical engineering at Monash University, and among the authors of newly published research on the technique.
Early studies indicate about 90 per cent of contained lithium can be recovered using the filter system, compared to about 30 per cent when producers use the existing process of pumping brines into a series of ponds and allowing the sun to evaporate the liquid for as long as 18 months, according to the researchers.
Fort Lauderdale-based Energy Exploration Technologies, which is seeking to commercialise the technology, says the process can also cut refining costs by about half.
Lithium, key for rechargeable batteries that power electric cars, is currently mainly produced either by refining spodumene, a mineral typically extracted from hard rock mines in Australia, or by processing salty brines found predominantly in Chile, Argentina and Bolivia.