Strings that draw-up brine could help supply the world with lithium

A new environmentally friendly technique that uses arrays of strings to extract lithium from brine, and potentially even seawater, could help meet growing global demand for the metal, which is needed for electric vehicle batteries and grid storage as the world moves towards electrification and zero-carbon energy.

At present, lithium mining requires a lot of energy, chemicals, land and time. It’s also limited to only a few parts of the world where lithium occurs in high enough concentrations and where conditions are right for evaporation ponds, including Australia and South America. The most common mining method involves pumping brine from underground aquifers to form vast pools on the surface. Millions of litres of water are then left to evaporate for up to 18 months, ultimately allowing lithium carbonate to form from the lithium chloride salts. However, such operations are also known to contaminate groundwater, and harm ecosystems and indigenous communities.