> The researchers have discussed the concept with companies that may be interested in the next step of building a prototype plant to help work out the real-worl

> The researchers have discussed the concept with companies that may be interested in the next step of building a prototype plant to help work out the real-world economics of the process. “One big challenge is cost — both electricity cost and equipment cost,” at this stage, Kumar says. Huh, I thought their big breakthrough would be figuring out how to make this economically viable. It's not a big surprise you can make useful chemicals out of brine, right?