Scientists discover innovative method to extract critical material from salt water — and it could make electric cars more affordable

George Washington could again be part of a revolution — even if by name only — thanks to researchers in the nation’s capital.

That’s because a team at The George Washington University, collaborating with experts elsewhere, claimed to have developed an innovative process to capture lithium. That’s the crucial element in batteries that power electric vehicles and other tech needed for the cleaner energy shift.

Details about the findings, highlighted in a news release and in the journal Nature, are captivating because the breakthrough is sans invasive mining and harmful chemicals soaking in vast brine pits. The typical extraction methods can be harmful to the environment, as reported by Euronews.

Instead, GW’s team developed an electro-driven method using a “special material that selectively captures lithium ions from the brine.” It is eventually turned into lithium hydroxide that can be used in EV power packs. What’s more, the cleaner technique can be completed at a “competitive cost,” according to a GW news release.

The team identified California’s Salton Sea as a briny source for extraction. The lake has 50% more salt than oceans, according to the state government. Nature’s report said that about 600,000 tons of lithium could be extracted from the sea annually, “far exceeding” the nation’s yearly needs.

The innovation could open the door for an abundant domestic supply of the material, which is currently dominated by foreign markets, according to Visual Capitalist. Foreign supply chains can sometimes be troublesome, evidenced by Chinese graphite export rules that in 2023 spurred worry in the sector about the availability of the crucial EV battery component.

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The minerals are part of the approximately 30 million tons — or more — of materials that Sustainability by Numbers reported will need to be hauled from the ground each year to effectively power the transition to a cleaner energy future. Comparatively, about 16.5 billion tons of dirty energy sources are mined annually, per the story by Hannah Ritchie, research head at Our World in Data.

The changeover to cleaner energy is crucial to avoiding worst-case weather and health impacts resulting from our overheating planet. The chance for droughts, wildfires, asthma, dementia, and other calamities are increased as a result of the rising mercury, per experts from NASA and the government.

The GW innovation includes a complicated-sounding setup called an “intercalation deionization cell,” a production well, an injection well, and other tech. Hot brine is pumped to the surface, and byproduct steam can power a turbine to make electricity. The cooled brine, typically a geothermal industry waste stream, is where the lithium is harvested. The other briny elements are pumped back underground. The converted lithium hydroxide is turned into a powder for battery makers, all per Nature.

The journal reported that the unit was working with high purity during tests. The next step is to test the tech at scale, according to the news release.

Another lithium extraction method being studied at Princeton involves evaporating briny water on strings. It is touted as being inexpensive and requiring low amounts of energy. A research team from Chicago is also working on a way to gather lithium from various sources of water.

Reusing old battery parts is also a great way to reclaim some of the lithium and other metals that are already harvested. Mercedes-Benz is among the companies investing in power pack recycling. Importantly, it’s something mostly anyone can take part in by utilizing resources like Call2Recycle.

It’s all part of exciting innovations being developed to power a cooler future.

“In terms of innovations, we need all of them — even those that may seem quite exotic at this point: fusion, direct air capture, and others,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sergey Paltsev said in an MIT report.

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