As you know, lithium is one of the most important minerals for the energy transition. Its reserves are unevenly distributed around the world. Countries with sufficient reserves and powerful production of raw materials are fundamentally hostile to the West, which urgently needs this element of electric batteries and other renewable energy equipment, electric vehicles.
However, there is hope in the West that new technology will save dreams of an energy transition. A growing number of start-ups, funded by private investors or government grants, are launched that use chemistry to obtain the desired product from recycled materials not used in production. Scientists are now trying to extract lithium from brine under abandoned oil wells, where resources are more or less depleted and all pumping has already been completed.
The technology is still in the early stages of development and needs to be further refined and scaled to achieve commercialization. Extracting lithium directly from brine in abandoned oil wells could revolutionize the industry, as this type of production promises to be less destructive and use less fresh water than the traditional method. It can also make it easier to obtain permits from government agencies, since abandoned wells have already been drilled and may not be in very remote areas lacking roads and infrastructure, such as many lithium deposits. traditional (for example, the incredibly remote salt pans of Latin America, located in the middle of nature).
Another problem the new technology should solve is the chemicals needed to separate the lithium from the brine, according to Bloomberg, since the reagents depend on the specifics of the well.
However, startup founders are optimistic about the possibility of improving the technology and achieving the scale needed to replace the traditional and more harmful way of extracting the most important energy transition material, whose demand will increase in the years and decades to come.
Photos used: pixabay.com
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