Researchers develop a low-cost technique to get lithium out of rocks
4 hours ago
- #Battery Technology
- #Lithium Extraction
- #Sustainable Mining
- Global lithium demand is rising due to the growth of lithium-ion batteries, but China dominates lithium refining despite abundant resources in the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
- Traditional lithium extraction from hard rock is energy-intensive, wasteful, and costly, often involving high-temperature baking and chemical leaching.
- MIT researchers developed a low-temperature process using ammonium fluoride to dissolve spodumene, extracting battery-grade lithium salts along with alumina and silica.
- This closed-loop method recycles the solvent and reagent, minimizing waste and reducing costs, making it competitive with brine extraction.
- The process has been successfully tested on 17 different spodumene sources and is being commercialized through the spinout Rock Zero.