CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Research to develop direct lithium extraction technologies fromaqueous sources is fundamental due to the environmental andtechno-economic shortcomings of the evaporitic technologycurrently in use. Electromembrane processes are an attractivealternative since they could be much faster, more readilyadaptable to brines of different compositions, sustainable sincethey use electrons as reactants, avoiding waste production, theuse of chemicals, and decreasing the water footprint. ValuableLi+ ions are only a very minor component in a complex matrixof very high ionic strength with co-existing cations, mostimportantly Mg2+ and Na+, displaying similar chemical properties.A review from the recent literature shows that adaptationfrom the simple electrodialysis configuration will beneeded to selectively recover pure lithium products. Testing ofthe proposed methodologies at meaningful concentrations,representative of real brines is key to bring these closer toindustrial scale applications.