KAUST develops technique to extract lithium from seawater | SUSTG.com – News, Analysis, and Features on all things Saudi Arabia

A recent study by scientists at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), published in the journal Science, developed a new technology for directly extracting lithium from brine in oil fields and seawater, where lithium is present in extremely low concentrations.

Demand for lithium is surging as Lithium-ion batteries are used in many electronics including cell phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. Worldwide lithium demand is growing from 250,000 tons per year to over two million tons per year by 2030, an 800% increase.

Land-based reserves of lithium are limited, with only 22 million tons in known reserves and by 2028, there will be significant shortages due to overwhelming demand which is already driving price increases for batteries. In addition, land-based lithium mining is water intensive and damaging to the environment.

However, the oceans contain over 230 billion tons of lithium compelling KAUST to develop a process that drives seawater under an electrical field through a special membrane. Lithium passes through the membrane while unwanted elements are blocked. This allows lithium to be collected cost effectively. The filtered seawater can be returned to the ocean safely with no environmental impacts.

KAUST, Lithium Power from Seawater

Using Aramco oil field brine, the technology was tested on a scale 100,000 times larger than that used in a university laboratory, proving to be cost-competitive with traditional methods that have struggled with low-concentration brine.

Professor Zhiping Lai, co-chair of the KAUST Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Storage Technologies and a lead researcher at the project, noted that this advancement could create new value in the fields of oil, mining, and geothermal energy, especially in areas where the produced water is typically regarded as waste. Brine and seawater are estimated to contain lithium reserves over 10,000 times more than is currently available and the ability to extract lithium from brine could potentially transform Saudi Arabia from an importer to a producer.

According to Al-Arabiya, KAUST’s startup Lihytech, co-founded by Lai and Professor Kuo-Wei (Andy) Huang, has secured $6 million in initial funding from the Saudi mining giant Ma’aden and the KAUST Innovation Fund. Aramco will continue to provide brine from its oilfields to help test and scale the lithium-extraction process. “Our goal is to establish a full-scale production and operation and generate significant lithium output within Saudi Arabia by 2028,” Huang said.

To read more, click here, here, here and here.