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There is also e.g. uranium in the ocean, Japanese even attempted to extract it; and it worked but was like, 10 times costlier than just buying the uranium mined
by Joker_vD 3y ago
There is also e.g. uranium in the ocean, Japanese even attempted to extract it; and it worked but was like, 10 times costlier than just buying the uranium mined normally? So yeah, there is pretty much everything in the ocean, there is usually just no economical sense to try and extract stuff from it.
- scythe 3y agoUranium is more concentrated in the ocean than other transition metals because it forms a stable anion (UO4(2-), IIRC). The most abundant transition metal in the ocean is actually molybdenum, followed by vanadium; most TMs have negligible solubility. But lithium with its high solubility is much more abundant in the ocean than any transition metal. Bromine is even more abundant than lithium in the ocean, but we don't extract it from the ocean; most of the world's bromine comes from the Dead Sea, and despite the location the supplies of Br is considered secure and the price is low. Processing large quantities of seawater is annoying, even though the energy cost in principle is attainable.
- pfdietz 3y agoBromine was being extracted from seawater at one point, IIRC. You bubble chlorine through seawater and out comes bromine. Magnesium can also be extracted from seawater.