To get just the lithium salts requires a very selective separating system. Those brines are like a hot soup seasoned with just a pinch of mixed minerals. The exact details of DLE technology tends to be proprietary but Lilac’s uses dilute hydrochloric acid to form a lithium chloride that can then be used in batteries.Ĭornwall’s history as a tin-mining centre could turn into a lithium-mining future These are generally ion-exchange resins, like that developed by US start-up Lilac Solutions in Oakland, California. Cornish Lithium’s plant uses direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology to get the lithium out of the hot brines. And deep underground are hot brines that contain lots of it.Ĭornish Lithium has drilled 1km deep boreholes at an old mining site and are testing the feasibility of pumping up the hot brines from geothermal reservoirs first discovered by tin miners years ago. At the time, these hot waters eventually forced the miners to abandon their operations, but the legacy of all that geological data is now proving fruitful in locating places that will provide good access to the lithium-rich brines. Cornwall sits on granite that is particularly rich in lithium. Cornish Lithium is making use of Cornwall’s mining heritage and unique geology to try and change lithium production. The huge quantities of water required to mine lithium in many parts of the world is harmful to wildlifeīut sustainable lithium production is possible – even in the UK.
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The spodumene needs to be processed at very high temperatures, over 1000☌, using vast amounts of energy. Alternatively, lithium can be mined as the mineral spodumene (a lithium aluminium silicate), as it predominantly is in Australia and China. Lithium is mined in a couple of ways: it is extracted by evaporating it from huge salt flats in Argentina and Chile, a process that uses gargantuan quantities of water, with disastrous consequences for local wildlife and human populations. According to the US Geological Survey, five mining operations in Australia and two salt extraction operations in Argentina and Chile, as well as some production in China, make up almost all the world’s lithium supply. One of those crucial materials, lithium, is not a particularly scarce resource, with the US Geological Survey estimating total global resources of around 80 million tonnes – and as different sources are explored, that number is rising. But lithium becomes problematic when extracting it currently comes with huge environmental problems. They highlight the huge increase in mineral demand as we shift from petrol-driven cars to electric ones – with six times more minerals required in an electric car, and the huge increase in their numbers, it doesn’t take a mathematician to work out that a lot more raw material will be required – enough to provide 1.8 million tonnes a year by 2030, according to some estimates. In May 2021, the International Energy Agency published a report calling on governments to think now about the critical minerals that will be needed to power electric vehicles and sustain renewable energy in future. The main elements that need some serious thought include lithium and cobalt.
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A full life-cycle analysis of the components needs to be considered right at the start of materials development to ensure a supply of batteries into the future, a supply that doesn’t itself ravage the planet. And those they do use will need to be sourced in a sustainable way. As the demand for electric vehicles balloons in the coming years, a secondary environmental disaster could be on the cards unless the batteries used in those vehicles can be made in a more sustainable way, with consideration given to their full life cycle. Chemists are front and centre of the battery story, from the early work by the scientists who shared the 2019 Nobel prize in chemistry to those around the world now trying to improve on the materials used in them.īetter batteries will need to use less scarce or problematic minerals, or better still none at all. These vehicles will be powered by lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.īut lithium-ion batteries have their own sustainability problems. The electrified fleet could see an end to gas-guzzlers, smoggy cities and the stench of petrol fumes.
By 2050 up to 1 billion vehicles on the roads will be powered by electricity, around 72 times more than in 2020.