PFI-TT: Concentrating and Separating Lithium from Brine Sources

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是解决锂的来源问题，锂是清洁能源技术中使用的一种重要矿物。目前，美国的锂产量仅占全球的1%左右，因此增加国内供应至关重要。该团队开发了一种从盐水中提取锂的创新方法，这种方法使用一种名为界面蒸发的过程。盐水是富含水的溶液。这一过程非常有效，而且成本效益很高。该项目旨在将这项新技术从实验室中提取出来，并使其在现实世界的流程和产品中可用。通过这样做，将有更多的低成本锂可用于支持美国的清洁能源经济倡议。在整个项目中，该团队将与合作伙伴合作，招收来自代表性不足背景的学生，并为他们提供技术开发和创业方面的培训。该团队将通过i-Corps计划获得有价值的见解和联系。此外，还将制作教育视频，帮助人们了解为什么提取锂很重要，以及它如何适应清洁能源技术的整个生命周期。该项目将使从卤水来源提取锂化学物质的新型界面蒸发过程的技术和业务开发成为可能。虽然目前的锂开采可能是能源、化学和土地密集型的，但通过与现有工艺的轻松集成，该工艺可以将提取速度加快10倍。3D纤维蒸发器允许毛细管流和蒸发流诱导具有不同浓度、迁移率和溶解度的阳离子物种进行顺序和可分离的结晶。结果，其他盐达到饱和点并沿蒸发器长度沉淀，而氯化锂通过并作为浓缩物收集。为了使这项技术在现实世界中可行，该项目将填补结晶和分离机制方面的知识空白，并克服几个技术障碍，包括解决实际盐水条件下的界面离子问题，开发更高效的操作和分离工艺，表征环境条件的影响，以及优化材料和反应堆系统，以实现可扩展和可靠的运行。预计扩大规模将达到200毫米/天的高蒸发速率和超过90%的锂回收，这将大大提高目前10毫米/天的蒸发效率和不到50%的商业流程回收效率。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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in solving the problem of lithium sourcing, which is an important mineral used in clean energy technologies. Right now, the United States only produces about 1% of the world's lithium, so it is crucial to increase the domestic supply. The team has developed an innovative way to extract lithium from brines, which are enriched water solutions, using a process called interfacial evaporation. This process is very effective and cost-efficient. This project aims to take this new technology from the laboratory and make it usable in real-world processes and products. By doing this, more low-cost lithium will be available to support the clean energy economy initiatives of the US. Throughout the project, the team will work with partners to recruit students from underrepresented backgrounds and provide them with training in both technology development and entrepreneurship. The team will gain valuable insights and connections through I-Corps program. Additionally, educational videos will be created to help people understand why lithium extraction is important and how it fits into the overall life cycle of clean energy technologies.The project will enable technology and business development of the novel interfacial evaporation process to extract lithium chemical from brine sources. While current lithium mining can be energy, chemical, and land-intensive, this process can accelerate the extraction by 10 folds by easy integration with existing processes. The 3D fiber evaporator allows for sequential and separable crystallization of cation species with various concentrations, mobilities, and solubilities induced by capillary and evaporative flows. As a result, other salts reach their saturation points and precipitate along the evaporator length, while lithium chloride passes through and is collected as a concentrate. To make this technology viable for real-world applications, the project will fill the knowledge gap in crystallization and separation mechanisms and overcome several technical barriers including addressing interfacing ions in actual brine conditions, developing more efficient operation and separation processes, characterizing the impact of environmental conditions, and optimizing materials and reactor systems for scalable and reliable operation. It is expected that scale up will achieve a high evaporation rate at 200 mm/day and recover over 90% of the lithium, which will greatly improve from the current efficiency of 10 mm/day evaporation and less than 50% recovery by commercial processes.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.