5 ms·

https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/Co4zeAhcmT https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/s/Co4zeAhcmT Iron is on top. Lithium is one up from the bottom left.

• 867-5309 3y ago
  strange how calcium and sodium are omitted
  • raverbashing 3y ago
    Sodium is not "mined" per se, as, you know, just get some sea water Calcium is, but maybe because it's not processed as most metals it is not included in the graph
    • vlabakje90 3y ago
      At least half of all NaCl that's used world wide is mined from salt mines. For many places in the world it's not feasible to rely on solar evaporation of sea water. Using other energy sources to evaporate sea salt is not cost effective and many places have large salt deposits. https://salt-partners.com/pdf/Santorini2006Paper.pdf https://salt-partners.com/pdf/Santorini2006Paper.pdf
      • Integrape 3y ago
        Would it be feasible to use the sodium from desalination wastewater?
        • culi 3y ago
          desalination wastewater contains a number of other chemicals used in the desalination process (e.g. pH adjusters, coagulants and flocculants, antiscalants, dispersants, biocides, and reducing chemicals)
          • amelius 3y ago
            So the next question: would those contaminants significantly degrade the performance of the battery?
            • culi 3y ago
              I mean... pH adjusters would definitely significantly alter things. The other major problem (I'd guess) is just the health implications of working with toxic wastewater. Is it safe? For context, as of 2019, we produced enough of this "brine" to cover Florida with 30 centimeters of brine every year. That means, as a whole, desalination plants actually produce even more toxic wastewater than they do clean drinking water. As a result figuring out ways we could utilize this _product_ ("byproduct" feels like the wrong term here considering it's the primary thing produced) is a major area of interest
              • Integrape 3y ago
                Didn't gasoline start out as a byproduct of kerosene production?
                • culi 3y ago
                  Sure but it's alternative uses were already known. It just so happened that a world-altering invention (the consumer automobile) came along to dramatically raise already existing demand for it. There is currently no demand/use for desalination brine. For every "this byproduct is actually useful" story there's likely 10 byproducts that simply stay byproducts. Still, it's urgent we figure out something to do with it since it's damaging our ocean ecosystems
              • ars 3y ago
                I looked up your claim that desalination plants produce "toxic wastewater" and I found nothing to support it. The output appears to be simple concentrated ocean water, and that's it. Can you cite your claim?
                • 3y ago
      • raverbashing 3y ago
        I am aware of this, but mining (or salt water processing) for the specific extraction of sodium metal from NaCl or others is really small Mined salt is probably more valuable as table salt (and cattle feed) than as source of metallic Na
    • oblio 3y ago
      Sodium is also mined for sure. There's a reason there are many expressions about salt mines :-)