Lithium Source Technology
With the surge in global demand for lithium resources, traditional lithium mining faces problems such as resource scarcity, environmental pressure and geopolitical risks. Extracting lithium from alternative water sources such as geothermal brine and seawater has become a research hotspot. The following are the main development directions of alternative lithium source technologies and their competitive situation:
1. Lithium extraction technology from geothermal brine
Electrochemical intercalation method: The George Washington University team has developed an environmentally friendly electrochemical process that can directly extract lithium from geothermal brine (such as the Salton Sea in the United States) and convert it into battery-grade lithium hydroxide (purity>99.5%) through bipolar membrane electrodialysis. This method does not require irritating chemical reagents, costs about $4.6/kg, and has the potential for scale-up135.
Advantages: Compared with traditional salt lake evaporation, this technology has lower energy consumption, shorter cycle time, and is suitable for water sources with low lithium concentrations.
2. Lithium extraction from seawater
Self-propelled nonwoven materials (CAN): Chinese scientist Liu Wei's team has developed a nonwoven material based on lithium titanate particles and cotton fiber/PVDF composites, which uses the principle of "directional water conduction" to achieve lithium extraction without external power. This method can reduce the energy consumption of lithium extraction from salt lakes/seawater and has the potential for large-scale production10.
Challenge: The lithium concentration in seawater is extremely low (~0.17 ppm), and the selectivity and capacity of adsorption materials need to be further improved.
3. Other alternative lithium source technologies
Optimization of lithium extraction from salt lake brine: Traditional adsorption methods (such as manganese/titanium ion sieves) still dominate, but face material stability issues in strong acid and alkali environments. New composite membranes (such as CAN) attempt to solve the problems of permeability and durability10.
Waste battery recycling: The lithium recovery rate target has been improved (such as China's 2025 target of 30%), but large-scale recycling technology still needs to break through10.
4. Competitive landscape and challenges
Cost and environmental protection: Lithium extraction from geothermal brine (such as electrochemical method) is superior to traditional salt lake process in terms of cost and environmental protection, but it depends on specific geological conditions; lithium extraction from seawater is still in the laboratory stage and its economic feasibility needs to be verified.
Technical maturity: Geothermal lithium extraction has entered the pilot stage, while seawater lithium extraction still needs to solve the efficiency problem at low concentrations110.
Policy drive: Europe and the United States promote the localization of key minerals (such as the US IRA Act), which may accelerate the commercialization of alternative lithium source technologies1.
In the future, with technological advances, geothermal brine and seawater lithium extraction are expected to become an important supplement to the lithium supply chain, but in the short term, it still needs to rely on the coordinated development of traditional lithium mines and salt lake resources.
