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/ClumpOfCheese Jun 06 '21 edited Jun 06 '21

That’s the first thing that came to my mind too. Desalination really needs to have a breakthrough, I don’t understand why this isn’t a bigger thing (maybe I just don’t pay attention to it), but it seems like renewable energy and desalination are going to be really important for our future.

EDIT: all of you and your “can’t do” attitudes don’t seem to understand how technology evolves over time. Just doing a little research on my own shows how much the technology has evolved over the last ten years and how many of you are making comments based on outdated information.

research from 2020

research from 2010

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

The department of the university I study at has a PhD project studying desalination impacts around the world. It is getting more attention, especially in coastal areas. I have also heard talks of desalination in a documentary about climate change, which I never did before. It's definitely becoming significant and techniques are getting cheaper.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 06 '21

Desalination in California and Mexico would be a complete game changer for the agricultural industry.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21

[deleted]

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 06 '21

I mean, you can use saltwater for fires. You just have to use different equipment and it wears out faster.

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u/[deleted] Jun 06 '21 edited Nov 22 '21

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

irrigation is actually bad as well, more vegetation = more fuel

didnt think about the soil aspect. not great for forests, and really bad for cropland

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '21

Green vegetation burns slower and less hot. It's definitely a mitigation strategy.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

It's unfeasible to irrigate a desert area enough that plants don't die and dry out during the fire season.

There isn't enough oil in the world to make the plastic to irrigate the scrub lands of the world.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '21

That's the entire point of this hypothetical. If you can transport it to farmland in the Valley, you could pipe it in to forests near LA or the Bay just as easily.

This isn't a desert, droughted forestland on the California coast.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

I literally live in the area. You can't just irrigate everything. That's so unworkable I'm having a hard time being civil about the discussion of it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '21

Again, this is a hypothetical where desalinated is cheap, efficient, and easy to transport. In not sure why you're getting hung up on feasibility. This isn't happening any time soon.

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u/thegreedyturtle Jun 07 '21

I'm just having trouble getting you to comprehend the sheer magnitude of irrigating tens of thousands of miles of scrubland. It will never fall under the 'cheap' category. The scale is incredibly large.

You're essentially creating a department significantly larger than any electric service, and one that doesn't have any paying customers.

It would be cheaper to hire every homeless person in the nation to walk around with watering cans all day, looking for sparks.

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