New tech enables direct lithium extraction from extreme environments

New research by an Australian-Chinese team has developed technology to enable direct lithium extraction from extreme environments like the desert.

In the new study, the team from Monash University and the University of Queensland (UQ) demonstrated how the innovative method efficiently extracted lithium from saltwater from China's Longmu Co Lake and Dongtai Lake, the Melbourne-based Monash University said in a media release on Tuesday.

Lithium is considered essential in the global clean energy transition due to its widespread use in battery storage technology.

However, experts have warned that the global supply of lithium could fall short of demand as early as 2025, with up to 75 percent of the world's lithium-rich saltwater untappable with current methods.

The new technology uses a nanofiltration process involving ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for direct and efficient extraction of lithium, as well as magnesium, from salt-lake brines.

The co-leads of the project, Li Zhikao from the Monash Suzhou Research Institute in China's Jiangsu Province and Zhang Xiwang from UQ, said that the EDTA-aided loose nanofiltration (EALNF) technology could be the answer to surging demand for lithium.

Li said that the technology achieves 90 percent lithium recovery from brine sources, nearly doubling that of traditional methods, and reduces the time required for extraction from years to weeks.

"High-altitude salt brine flats in countries like China and Bolivia are examples of areas with tougher brine conditions that have traditionally been ignored. In remote desert areas, the vast amounts of water, chemicals and infrastructure required for conventional extraction just aren't available either, underscoring the need for innovative technologies," he said.

"With Monash University's EALNF technology, these can now be commercially viable sources of lithium and valuable contributors to the global supply chain," he added.

While traditional extraction methods treat magnesium, which is often present in brines and difficult to remove, as waste, the EALNF technology turns it into a high-quality product that can be sold.

Li said the technology is ready to quickly expand from testing to full industrial operations.