{"id":17443,"date":"2023-09-19T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2023-09-19T01:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/?p=17443"},"modified":"2023-09-19T09:20:36","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T01:20:36","slug":"new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/","title":{"rendered":"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lithium, an essential element in electric vehicle batteries and energy storage systems, holds promise for a greener future. However, its production carries notable environmental implications. Extracting lithium from saline water demands substantial land and time, with large operations running into the dozens of square miles and often requiring over a year to begin production.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Now, researchers at\u00a0Princeton<\/a>\u00a0have developed an extraction technique that slashes the amount of land and time needed for lithium production. The researchers say their system can improve production at existing lithium facilities and unlock sources previously seen as too small or diluted to be worthwhile.<\/p>\n

The core of the technique, described in a paper recently published in\u00a0Nature Water<\/em>, is a set of porous fibers twisted into strings, which the researchers engineered to have a water-loving core and a water-repelling surface. When the ends are dipped in a salt-water solution, the water travels up the strings through capillary action \u2013 the same process trees use to draw water from roots to leaves.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The water quickly evaporates from each string\u2019s surface, leaving behind salt ions such as sodium and lithium. As water continues to evaporate, the salts become increasingly concentrated and eventually form sodium chloride and lithium chloride crystals on the strings, allowing for easy harvesting.<\/p>\n

In addition to concentrating the salts, the technique causes the\u00a0lithium and sodium to crystallize at distinct locations along the string due to their different physical properties. Sodium, with low solubility, crystallizes on the lower part of the string, while the highly soluble lithium salts crystallize near the top. The natural separation allowed the team to collect lithium and sodium individually, a feat that typically requires the use of additional chemicals.<\/p>\n

\"Lithium<\/p>\n

A Princeton research team has developed a new approach for concentrating, separating, and harvesting lithium salts. Credit: Bumper DeJesus<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe aimed to leverage the fundamental processes of evaporation and capillary action to concentrate, separate, and harvest lithium,\u201d said\u00a0Z. Jason Ren, professor of\u00a0civil and environmental engineering\u00a0and the\u00a0Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment\u00a0at Princeton and the leader of the research team. \u201cWe do not need to apply additional chemicals, as is the case with many other extraction technologies, and the process saves a lot of water compared to traditional evaporation approaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Limited supply of lithium is one obstacle to the transition to a low-carbon society, Ren added. \u201cOur approach is cheap, easy to operate, and requires very little energy. It\u2019s an environmentally friendly solution to a critical energy challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

An evaporation pond on a string<\/h4>\n

Conventional brine extraction involves building a series of huge evaporation ponds to concentrate lithium from salt flats, salty lakes, or groundwater aquifers. The process can take anywhere from several months to a few years. The operations are only commercially viable in a handful of locations around the world that have sufficiently high starting lithium concentrations, an abundance of available land, and an arid climate to maximize evaporation. For instance, there is only\u00a0one active brine-based lithium extraction operation<\/a>\u00a0in the United States, located in Nevada and covering over seven square miles.<\/p>\n

The string technique is far more compact and can begin producing lithium much more quickly. Although the researchers caution that it will take additional work to scale their technology from the lab to an industrial scale, they estimate it can cut the amount of land needed by more than 90 percent of current operations and can accelerate the evaporation process by more than 20 times compared to traditional evaporation ponds, potentially yielding initial lithium harvests in less than one month.<\/p>\n

Compact, low-cost, and rapid operations could expand access to include new sources of lithium, such as disused oil and gas wells and geothermal brines, that are currently too small or too dilute for lithium extraction. The researchers said the accelerated evaporation rate could also allow for operation in more humid climates. They are even investigating whether the technology would allow for lithium extraction from seawater.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur process is like putting an evaporation pond on a string, allowing us to obtain lithium harvests with a significantly reduced spatial footprint and with more precise control of the process,\u201d said Sunxiang (Sean) Zheng, study co-author and former Andlinger Center Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow. \u201cIf scaled, we may open up new vistas for environmentally friendly lithium extraction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the materials to produce the strings are cheap and the technology does not require chemical treatments to operate, the researchers said that with additional enhancements, their approach would be a strong candidate for widespread adoption. In the paper, the researchers demonstrated the potential scalability of their approach by constructing an array of 100 lithium-extracting strings.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Ren\u2019s team is already developing a second generation of the technique that will enable greater efficiency, higher throughput, and more control over the crystallization process. He credits the\u00a0Princeton Catalysis Initiative\u00a0for providing critical initial support to enable creative research collaborations. Additionally, his team recently received an\u00a0NSF Partnerships for Innovation Award\u00a0and an award from Princeton\u2019s\u00a0Intellectual Property (IP) Accelerator Fund\u00a0to support the research and development process, including ways to modify the approach to extract other critical minerals in addition to lithium. Together with\u00a0Kelsey Hatzell, assistant professor of\u00a0mechanical and aerospace engineering\u00a0and the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Ren also received seed funding from the\u00a0Princeton Center for Complex Materials\u00a0to better understand the crystallization process.<\/p>\n

Zheng is leading the launch of a startup,\u00a0PureLi Inc.<\/a>, to begin the process of refining the technology and eventually bringing it to the wider marketplace. Zheng was selected as one of four researchers in the\u00a0inaugural START Entrepreneurs<\/a>\u00a0cohort at Princeton, an academic fellowship and startup accelerator designed to foster inclusive entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a researcher, you know firsthand that many new technologies are too expensive or difficult to scale,\u201d Zheng said. \u201cBut we are very excited about this one, and with some additional efficiency improvements, we think it has incredible potential to make a real impact on the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cSpatially separated crystallization for selective lithium extraction from saline water\u201d by Xi Chen, Meiqi Yang, Sunxiang Zheng, Fernando Temprano-Coleto, Qi Dong, Guangming Cheng, Nan Yao, Howard A. Stone, Liangbing Hu and Zhiyong Jason Ren, 7 September 2023,\u00a0Nature Water<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Source:New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production (scitechdaily.com)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEPTEMBER 11, 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industrial-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SEPTEMBER 11, 2023\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-19T01:20:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"709\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"489\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DPC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DPC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/\",\"name\":\"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-19T01:20:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0b9917bf37d9832a82f648a24def18a2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg\",\"width\":709,\"height\":489},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u9996\u9801\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/\",\"name\":\"\u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8\",\"description\":\"\u5c08\u696d\u96fb\u6c60\u7d44\u8a2d\u8a08\/\u751f\u7522\/\u88fd\u9020\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0b9917bf37d9832a82f648a24def18a2\",\"name\":\"DPC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a258145ae53eacd7bcbebe15acef782?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a258145ae53eacd7bcbebe15acef782?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"DPC\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/author\/dpc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8","og_description":"SEPTEMBER 11, 2023","og_url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/","og_site_name":"\u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8","article_published_time":"2023-09-19T01:20:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":709,"height":489,"url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"DPC","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"DPC","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/","url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/","name":"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production - \u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-19T01:20:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0b9917bf37d9832a82f648a24def18a2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/2023-09-19_091510.jpg","width":709,"height":489},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/new-extraction-technique-revolutionizes-lithium-production\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u9996\u9801","item":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Extraction Technique Revolutionizes Lithium Production"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/","name":"\u660c\u8467\u80a1\u4efd\u6709\u9650\u516c\u53f8","description":"\u5c08\u696d\u96fb\u6c60\u7d44\u8a2d\u8a08\/\u751f\u7522\/\u88fd\u9020","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/0b9917bf37d9832a82f648a24def18a2","name":"DPC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a258145ae53eacd7bcbebe15acef782?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9a258145ae53eacd7bcbebe15acef782?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"DPC"},"url":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/author\/dpc\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17443"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17444,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17443\/revisions\/17444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battery9999.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}