MIT researchers say they may have found a simpler route to lithium from hard rock: a process that runs at or near room temperature and is projected to cut costs by about half.
That could be a major development for everything from electric vehicles to home battery systems, which rely on lithium to store power affordably and reliably.
What happened?
Spodumene, a major hard-rock source of lithium, is at the center of the new method, PV Magazine reported.
The researchers used water and ammonium fluoride to break down the ore, avoiding the usual roasting step above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) and recovering aluminum and silica as useful co-products.
The work, published in Science, was tested on 17 spodumene sources. At lab scale, the solvent and reagent could be recovered and reused in a closed loop, with waste nearing zero under those conditions.
Camden Hunt, a former project manager at MIT's Center for Electrification and Decarbonization of Industry and co-author of the paper, emphasized the urgency of the challenge.
"By 2040, we need to quadruple production of lithium globally, which amounts to hundreds of new lithium producing assets," Hunt said, per PV Magazine.
Why does it matter?
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Lithium demand is expected to rise sharply as more EVs, grid storage projects, and home backup batteries come online. If this process can be scaled commercially, it could reduce the cost and energy burden of producing one of the world's most important battery materials.
Because current hard-rock extraction consumes so much energy and creates so much waste, an alternative could have wide effects. Producing lithium at room temperature while also generating usable aluminum and silica could lower costs across the supply chain and make battery production more resilient.
Commercialization is already underway through Rock Zero, a spinout launched by the MIT team, though the process has not yet been proved at battery-industry scale.
What are people saying?
Hunt stressed the broader opportunity for domestic supply chains, telling PV Magazine, "Hard rock is abundant; you can find it everywhere."
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He added, "If you can find an easier way to crack the rock, get lithium out, and make battery-grade lithium salts, you can change the lithium market."
Yet-Ming Chiang, a materials science and engineering professor and a co-author, said, "We believe this approach is the lowest-energy, lowest-cost way of getting lithium not only out of hard rock but period."
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