Edith Cowan University (ECU) and the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) held a kick-off meeting at ECU’s Joondalup campus to discuss a $450,000 investment from the state government toward a new lithium extraction pilot project.
“This is just the first step in an incredibly important venture between ECU and MRIWA.
“It is set to change the future of direct lithium extraction (DLE). We anticipate the future value for this pilot to expand over time from $4 million in the first five years and up to $20 million at the commercialisation stages,” said Project Lead, ECU Associate Professor Amir Razmjou.
As the world’s dependence on lithium for powering electric vehicles, and storing wind and solar energy grows, alternative means to extract lithium from the earth are needed — and soon.
Global demand currently sits at around 700,000 tonnes per annum but is expected to rise to 4,000,000 tonnes by 2035.
While lithium is abundant, its extraction poses environmental challenges.
“The problem is for every one tonne of lithium chemical we produce, it directly results in 15 tonnes of carbon dioxide,” Associate Professor Razmjou explained.
“Furthermore, lithium requires large amounts of water. To extract one tonne of lithium from hard rock, it requires about 60,000 to 80,000 litres of water and can also poison reservoirs and other water sources.”
The new technology developed by Associate Professor Razmjou and his team of chemical engineers at ECU uses membranes, which act as filters that allow the transportation of lithium at low energy.
“The nanochannels within the membranes are designed to selectively transport lithium from one side to the other, leaving impurities behind,” he said.
“This technology enables the selective filtration of lithium ions under an electric field. The principle is similar to how lithium-ion batteries work, shuttling lithium ions between two electrodes.”
The new technology will also allow by-products to be recirculated, reducing overall costs.
This stage of the project will determine how to improve the productivity of the lithium extraction process.
“MRIWA is pleased to be able to support this innovative technology for a critical battery mineral that will reduce the carbon footprint of the value chain,” said MRIWA Research Portfolio Manager, David Trotter.
Associate Professor Razmjou added: “This integration with renewable energy can result in zero-lithium mining. The potential that comes with a project like this is endless, with a new DLE manufacturing line comes a new supply chain, and with it, job opportunities.”
