Demand for lithium is soaring as automakers ramp up electric vehicle production and energy companies build larger battery systems to support wind and solar power. But producing lithium remains a slow and environmentally costly process. Current extraction methods work best with high quality deposits found in only a limited number of regions, while also consuming huge amounts of land and water.
Now, researchers at Columbia Engineering have developed a new lithium extraction technique that could speed up production, reduce pollution, and tap reserves that existing technologies struggle to access.
Their findings, published in the journal Joule, describe a process called switchable solvent selective extraction, or S3E (pronounced S three E). The method uses a temperature responsive solvent to pull lithium directly from salty underground brines, even when lithium concentrations are low or mixed with other minerals that are difficult to separate.
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