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01 / 05
Researchers Develop Technique to Get Lithium Out of Rocks

MIT News | Mineral Production

Researchers Develop Technique to Get Lithium Out of Rocks

“Extracting lithium from hard rock today is an energy- and waste-intensive process that is often far more expensive than getting lithium from brine water, which also has major environmental drawbacks. Currently, lithium hard rock extraction involves baking the rock at over 1,000 Celsius and chemically leaching it to extract lithium. The rest of the rock is discarded.

Now, a team of researchers from MIT and elsewhere has developed a low-temperature process for extracting battery-grade lithium from the most common type of lithium-bearing mineral. The process uses a liquid reagent to dissolve the rock into the useful forms of its constituent parts: not just battery-ready lithium salts, but also smelter-grade alumina and cement-ready silica. After the minerals are extracted, the solvent and reagent can be recovered and used again so waste levels approach zero.

The researchers estimate the closed-loop process is half the cost of traditional lithium hard rock extraction and could make it cost-competitive with extracting lithium from brine water.

A paper describing the process was published today in Science. The researchers have already begun commercializing the technology through an MIT spinout, Rock Zero.”

From MIT News.

Interesting Engineering | Mineral Production

US Hits Jackpot: 1.78 Million Tons of Tungsten in Nevada Desert

“A US critical minerals company has recently confirmed the nation’s largest known tungsten resource at its Railroad Valley Minerals Project in Nye County, Nevada, despite a NASA land withdrawal restricting exploration across part of the site.

In its updated resource report, 3 Proton Lithium (3PL) said that the project hosts an inferred resource of 1.78 million tons of tungsten. The company revealed that the deposit is part of a mineral system that also contains world-class resources of lithium, potash, and boron.

As per 3PL, the deposit is reportedly five times larger than the biggest tungsten resource currently listed in the US and comes at a time when the country relies heavily on imports for the strategic metal…

At current consumption rates, the resources could provide the U.S. with tungsten for hundreds of years, 3PL said.”

From Interesting Engineering.

Yale Environment 360 | Energy Production

The World Adds a Third Terawatt of Solar Power

“In March, the world passed a major energy milestone, adding its third terawatt of solar power. Increasingly, poorer countries are leading the shift to solar, analysts say.

It took nearly seven decades, after the invention of the silicon solar cell in 1954, for the world to install 1 terawatt of solar capacity, conceivably enough to power the entire United States. After passing that milestone in 2022, the world added its second terawatt in 2024 and its third in 2026, Bloomberg reports.

BloombergNEF expects installations will continue apace, with the world hitting 9 terawatts of solar power by 2036. Analysts project that, by that date, poor countries will have installed more solar power than rich countries, China notwithstanding.”

From Yale Environment 360.

Reuters | Energy Production

China Now Generates Less than Half of Its Electricity from Coal

“China, the world's largest coal consumer, generated less than 50% of its ​electricity from the fossil fuel in the six months to June, marking a first ‌for the country, which has been promoting the use of renewable energy, officials said.

Coal's share of the power mix was 49.7%, Xing Yiteng, deputy director general of the energy administration's development and planning office, told a press conference on Thursday.”

From Reuters.

US Energy Information Administration | Energy Production

New LNG Terminal Expands North American Export Capacity

“Energia Costa Azul, the second liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Mexico, shipped its initial cargo from Phase 1 of the terminal on July 8, according to the project developer. The completion of the project adds 0.4 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of nominal export capacity from a single train, tripling Mexico’s LNG export capacity. The facility is the first terminal in Mexico and the second in North America, following LNG Canada, to be located on the Pacific Coast, boosting North American export capacity there to 2.2 Bcf/d. The Pacific Coast location allows for shorter shipping routes to importers in Asia.”

From US Energy Information Administration.