Australia's Lithium Extraction Rate Ups to 90%

A 90% lithium extraction rate has been realized by an international research team led by the Monash University of Australia. The team has developed an innovative new filtration method that makes the extraction of lithium in only a few hours, accelerating us toward energy future.

The research team, featuring researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the University of Melbourne, and the University of Texas at Austin, published their study in Nature Materials.

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The Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) is a selective separation membrane whose size and chemical properties can be adjusted to "ion selectivity", meaning that lithium ions can be rapidly filtered in a unidirectional, selective manner. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the way the extraction of lithium-from-brine is performed.

Through this new research, Professor Wang, co-lead research author, and professor of chemical engineering at Monash University said: "We could one day have the capability to produce simple filters that will take hours to extract lithium from brine, rather than several months to years. Besides, Preliminary studies have shown that this technology has a lithium recovery rate of approximately 90%, a substantial improvement on a 30% recovery rate achieved through the current solar evaporation process."

The MOF technology has been granted an exclusive patent by Energy Exploration Technologies, Inc. (EnergyX) and may be commercialized. The company believes that This breakthrough invention will change the way lithium is produced and how we power our future.

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With the surge in demand for electric vehicles and the energy storage industry, lithium mining has developed rapidly around the world. Australia is one of the world's largest lithium suppliers, but most of its lithium resources are produced from the mineral spodumene rather than lithium-from-brine extraction.

Besides, most of the world's lithium-from-brine extraction occurs in the Lithium Triangle, including the border areas of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The area hosts roughly half of the world’s lithium reserves. The current opportunity for Australia is to actively develop vast salt lakes for potential lithium production options including improving lithium extraction rate on the other.

Due to the research and development of new lithium extraction technology in Australia, the recovery rate could reach 90%, meaning the cost of lithium batteries will fall faster. And lithium batteries will become a substantial part of the world’s future energy landscape.

 

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