4 ms·
Lithium recovery from seawater using dialysis with a lithium ionic SC (2015)
- xoa 9y agoAn more general overview of possible approaches (not just applying to lithium) is also worth a read, "Mining valuable minerals from seawater: a critical review" [1]. Approaches to oceanic mineral extraction and R&D towards making it more economically viable should be of increasing interest given the changing mineral demands imposed by vehicle electrification and shifting generation. I think this is an area that should be getting a significant amount of long baseline R&D from both government and industry right now. Viable seawater recovery would not merely have major economic and environmental implications, it could have dramatic geopolitical effects too by diversifying potential key mineral inputs from limited land based point sources to "anywhere with ocean access", just as solar and vehicle electrification will decentralize energy markets, so countries should consider it not just a good economic hedge/planning but an area with strategic implications. Worth remembering also that "viable" is a shifting baseline that depends on economic demand, just as it is with anything else (like oil for example). It doesn't necessarily have to ever be cheaper then the cheapest concentrated mineral source if value rises enough, and merely having viable techniques that could in principle be deployed may help set a price ceiling and limit the geopolitics that could be played. ----- 1: http://pubs.rsc.org/-/content/articlehtml/2017/ew/c6ew00268d?page=search http://pubs.rsc.org/-/content/articlehtml/2017/ew/c6ew00268d...