How can lithium, one of the most demanded minerals for clean energy products like electric vehicles, be harvested without harming the environment? This is what a pending grant worth more than $1.8 million from the Department of Energy hopes to address as a team of researchers at Virginia Tech plan to upscale their longstanding research involving the production of battery-grade lithium from water as opposed to mining it around the world. This first-of-its-kind research holds the potential to help scientists develop more eco-friendly methods for producing energy-relevant metals without resulting in continued harm to the environment.
“High-demand metals and minerals, such as lithium, play an essential role in electric vehicle production and are present in virtually every battery worldwide,” said Dr. Wencai Zhang, who is an associate professor in the Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering at Virginia Tech and the project lead. “Our goal is to contribute to the supply chain of these critical materials while also making a positive environmental impact. We specifically aim to reduce the environmental consequences that can be associated with produced water.”
Image of graduate student, Peidong Liu, and Dr. Wencai Zhang analyzing water samples in the lab. (Credit: Virginia Tech/Hailey Wade)
The team has broken down producing battery grade lithium from water into five phases: produced water treatment, recovery of critical metals and rare earth elements, direct lithium recovery, carbon mineralization, and phyto-microbial treatment. Through this, the collaborative team comprised of researchers from academia and industry hope to develop more efficient and eco-friendly methods for extracting battery-grade lithium from water that can be used for electric vehicles and other green-based technologies.
“My knowledge itself cannot solve this issue, so it’s crucial to the project that we have collaborators who have industry relevant knowledge that will make a substantial impact on the project and get the issue resolved,” said Dr. Zhang.
What new discoveries into producing energy-relevant metals from water will researchers make in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: EurekAlert!, Virginia Tech News
