Sustainable lithium extraction and magnesium hydroxide co-production from salt-lake brines | Nature Sustainability

Oct 23, 2024

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In recent years, the demand for lithium (Li) has been on the rise as Li-ion batteries are playing an increasingly important role in powering the global transition to a low-carbon society. In contrast to the predominant production of lithium from hard rock, lithium extraction from brine sources has proven more economical and sustainable. However, substantial challenges remain, including the low efficiency of the extraction process, especially for brines of high salinity, complex composition and poor selectivity against magnesium, the major competing species. Here we show a loose nanofiltration process involving ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) for direct and efficient Li+ extraction as well as effective Mg2+ utilization from salt-lake brines. Taking advantage of selective binding between EDTA4− and Mg2+, our process achieves ultrahigh Mg2+ rejection of 99.85%, ultrafast Li+ flux of ~4.34 mol m−2 h−1 and unprecedented Li+/Mg2+ separation factor (~679) under industrial conditions (127.06 g l−1). More importantly, the Li+ recovery rate reaches 89.90% through a two-stage filtration process, while Mg2+ waste is converted to nanostructured Mg(OH)2 and 98.87% of EDTA4− can be regenerated. Our scalable process minimizes environmental impact while maximizing resource utilization, thereby catalysing the shift toward a more sustainable future.

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Z.L. acknowledges support from the Monash University Start-up Fund (Project No. MSRI8001003).

These authors contributed equally: Ming Yong, Meng Tang.

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Ming Yong, Meng Tang, Liangliang Sun, Zhikao Li & Huanting Wang

Suzhou Industrial Park Monash Research Institute of Science and Technology, Suzhou, China

Ming Yong, Meng Tang, Liangliang Sun, Xiaoqiong Ren, Yuan Cheng & Zhikao Li

Environmental Technology Research Institute, Baowu Group Environmental Resources Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai, China

Fei Xiong & Enchao Li

School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China

Lei Xie

CAS Key Laboratory of Low-Carbon Conversion Science and Engineering, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute (SARI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, China

Gaofeng Zeng

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia

Xiaoqiong Ren & Yuan Cheng

School of Automation, Xi’an University of Posts and Telecommunications, Shaanxi, China

Ke Wang

UQ Dow Centre for Sustainable Engineering Innovation, School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia

Xiwang Zhang

ACR Centre of Excellence for Green Electrochemical Transformation of Carbon Dioxide (GETCO2), Brisbane, Australia

Xiwang Zhang

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M.Y. and M.T. designed the experiment. M.Y. conducted the experiment and analysed the results. Z.L. and X.Z. proposed and supervised the project. L.S. contributed to data analysis. E.L. and F.X. contributed to the technical and economic analysis. G.Z. and L.X. contributed to conducting SEM, 1H-NMR characterization, AFM force measurement and project discussion. X.R., K.W. and Y.C. carried out the DFT calculation. M.Y. wrote and revised the paper. Z.L., E.L. and X.Z. discussed the results, commented on and revised the paper. H.W. provided constructive suggestions for the project.

Correspondence to Zhikao Li, Enchao Li or Xiwang Zhang.

The authors declare no competing interests.

Nature Sustainability thanks Jian Jin, Qiaoying Wang, Walter Torres and Amir Razmjou for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary methods, Figs. 1–52, Note 1 and Tables 1–9.

Processed NMR patterns and statistical source data.

Statistical source data.

Processed XRD pattern and statistical source data.

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Yong, M., Tang, M., Sun, L. et al. Sustainable lithium extraction and magnesium hydroxide co-production from salt-lake brines. Nat Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01435-2

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Received: 11 January 2024

Accepted: 30 August 2024

Published: 22 October 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01435-2

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