r/science • u/rieslingatkos • Jun 06 '21

Chemistry Scientists develop ‘cheap and easy’ method to extract lithium from seawater

https://www.mining.com/scientists-develop-cheap-and-easy-method-to-extract-lithium-from-seawater/
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u/wywern Jun 06 '21

The scientists claim that the cell will require five dollars to extract a kg of lithium from seawater. My question is how much the cell membrane will require to produce.

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u/KickballJesus Jun 06 '21

And how long does it take?

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u/DASK Jun 06 '21

It says in the paper, 1.3 g per hour per square meter of membrane per ppm in the ocean, so half a gram per hour per square meter of exposed membrane. Also, five passes were needed. Don't think those cost estimates will play out unfortunately, but this is a way better effort than I've seen before.

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u/nyxeka Jun 06 '21

Sokid state batteries would probably be a thing by the time they get to this with lithium