I-Corps: Novel Nano-Framework for Lithium

I-Corps：新型锂纳米框架

• 批准号: 1934248
• 负责人: Hemali Rathnayake
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina Greensboro
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-06-15 至 2020-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1934248&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Novel; Nano; Framework; Lithium

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is significant for lithium producers that can selectively extract and recover efficiently high-grade lithium from brine and salt water, resulting in a significant impact on the lithium market. The proposed research will enable understanding of the technology challenges, needs, and improvement in current lithium extraction technologies. The training process will help graduate students to improve their entrepreneurial skills, learn how to work with academia, industrial sectors, customers and the public. The developed technology is expected to find broader commercial applications in environmental, healthcare, and energy sectors. The customer of the proposed innovation is potentially any company that produces brine solution. Oil companies and lithium producers are the key targets for this innovation. The proposed innovation enables a novel technology that would selectively extract lithium from brine solution resulting in high lithium recovery and low-cost production and conversion of lithium to its end products, lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.This I-Corps project develops a fibrous mat from a novel coordination polymer framework that possesses molecular sieving and selective chemical affinity to lithium, providing fast and efficient lithium extraction and recovery. The global demand for lithium is expected to witness substantial growth owing to its increased demand for energy storage, electronic bikes, electrification of tools, and other battery-intense applications. It is unlikely that traditional lithium extraction operations from hard rock and brine deposits will be able to respond to future lithium markets to meet current demands. Mining lithium from hard rock deposits requires high operating cost regardless of its low technology requirements and short processing time. The current brine operations are also more capital intensive, incur significant lead times to generate high grade lithium production. The proposed innovation is unique due to its high selectivity, rapid extraction ability, and the feasibility to apply into any shape and size brine ponds. The current stage of the project focuses on developing the fibrous mat with tailored porosity and high-density chemical affinity to demonstrate its utility and versatility for selective extraction of lithium ions from salt solutions and seawater.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个i-Corps项目的广泛影响/商业潜力对锂生产商来说意义重大，这些生产商可以选择性地从盐水和盐水中高效地提取和回收高品位锂，从而对锂市场产生重大影响。拟议的研究将使人们能够了解当前锂提取技术的技术挑战、需求和改进。培训过程将帮助研究生提高创业技能，学习如何与学术界、工业部门、客户和公众合作。预计这项开发的技术将在环境、医疗保健和能源领域获得更广泛的商业应用。拟议中的创新的客户可能是任何生产盐水溶液的公司。石油公司和锂生产商是这项创新的关键目标。拟议的创新实现了一种新技术，该技术可以从盐水溶液中选择性地提取锂，从而实现高锂回收率和低成本生产，并将锂转化为其最终产品碳酸锂和氢氧化锂。这个i-Corps项目从具有分子筛分和对锂的选择性化学亲和力的新型配位聚合物框架中开发出一种纤维垫，提供快速高效的锂提取和回收。全球对锂的需求预计将大幅增长，原因是对储能、电动自行车、工具电气化和其他电池密集型应用的需求增加。传统的从硬岩和卤水矿床中提锂的业务不太可能对未来的锂市场做出回应，以满足当前的需求。从硬岩矿床中开采锂需要较高的运营成本，尽管其技术要求较低，处理时间较短。目前的盐水业务也是资本密集型的，需要大量的准备时间来生产高品位锂。建议的创新是独一无二的，因为它具有高选择性，快速提取能力，以及适用于任何形状和大小的咸水池的可行性。该项目当前阶段的重点是开发具有定制孔隙率和高密度化学亲和力的纤维垫，以展示其从盐溶液和海水中选择性提取锂离子的实用性和多功能性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。