Penn process extracts lithium quickly at low temperatures

Research lead Mohammad Rezaee, the Centennial Career Development Professor in Mining Engineering at Penn State, said that as well as batteries, lithium has applications in grid energy storage, ceramics, glass, and lubricants.

“But its extraction must also be environmentally responsible, said Rezaee. “Our research shows that we can extract lithium, and other critical minerals, more efficiently while drastically reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste that’s difficult to manage or dispose of."

The United States imports more than twice what it can extract from domestic lithium resources despite housing millions of metric tons of lithium deposits. The issue is the time, financial cost and environmental impact of extracting lithium from the rocks where it naturally occurs, said Rezaee.

Now, with far less energy consumption and fewer harsh chemicals than traditional methods, the acid-free approach can extract over 99 per cent of a rock’s available lithium in minutes, compared to the hours of conventional extraction that produces roughly 96 per cent of the available lithium.