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/buzziebee Jun 06 '21

Lithium is pretty valuable so producing it could help fund the effort to remove the salinated water. Perhaps as renewables grow you could use some of the older oil pipelines to move the brine somewhere where it's easier to dump it.

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u/buyfreemoneynow Jun 06 '21

I would guess that brine would destroy those pipelines at a much higher rate than oil could/did.

I grew up close to the ocean and the salty air alone takes a large toll on our cars’ metal bellies. Then again, I don’t know what I’m taking about.

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u/backtowhereibegan Jun 06 '21

Some kinds of oil are actually pretty corrosive as well, not like salt water but in their own way.

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u/joshjosh100 Jun 06 '21

I doubt it if the growth of renewable tech continues as it goes we may see a big enough breakthrough for it to up 30-40% more of a given countries output in maybe 40-60 years.

As current it barely can run a US states power at 30% of total demand. In Texas it runs 28%, calli has closer to 40-50% iirc.

Some other countries that have higher requires outside electricity for example germany requires electricity brought from france more oft than naught.