Lithium Extraction from Brines via Chemical Reduction of Solid Electroactive Particles

Abstract:

Worldwide lithium (Li) demand is increasing due to production of Li-ion batteries, with the increase largely driven by electric vehicles. Li-ion batteries have a diversity of materials used in the cathode, anode, and electrolyte; however, Li is required for all of these batteries. Worldwide production of Li increased more than 20,000 metric tons (and by more than 25%) between 2020 and 2021, and Li-ion batteries were the end use for 80% of the Li. New Li production sources and technologies are needed both to more sustainably support Li production and to prevent supply shortages. Supply limitations can result in Li price fluctuations which negatively impact the cost and adoption of energy storage technologies such as electric vehicles. The system that will be described in this talk is targeted towards extraction of Li from a less conventional geothermal brine resource.

More conventional Li resources are extracted from either ores or brines and have large impacts with regards to chemical and energy inputs. This presentation will describe initial efforts in the use of an extraction process based on the use of chemical redox to selectively drive Li from brine into a solid intercalation material. The brine source was intended to simulate a geothermal fluid resource, more specifically the discharge brine at the Salton Sea. Soluble additives were incorporated into the brine solution to provide the necessary shift in redox potential of the brine solution to chemically drive the Li capture. While other brine components were also included, the primary focus was separation of Li from sodium (Na), because the target component was Li and the largest concentration element in the brine was Na (molar ratio of Li:Na 1:78). The driving force for extraction of Li into the solid phase was chemical redox facilitated by the solution chemistry – there were no additional energy inputs during Li uptake.  Factors that influence total Li capture and Li selectivity will be discussed, as well as initial results for translation to alternative brine solutions.

Biography:

Professor Gary Koenig completed a B.S. in Chemical Engineering at The Ohio State University in 2004, and then received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009 with advisor Nicholas Abbott. The Ph.D. thesis involved the study of the interactions of colloidal particles in structured solvents. After graduate school, Dr. Koenig worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division under the supervision of Dr. Ilias Belharouak in the group of Dr. Khalil Amine. The postdoctoral project was the development of a new lithium-ion battery cathode material with an internal concentration gradient at the particle level. In 2012, Dr. Koenig began an appointment on the faculty at University of Virginia in the Department of Chemical Engineering, being promoted to Professor in 2025. Research interests include the synthesis and characterization of particle materials and thin films, in particular electroactive material particles used in battery electrodes. Other areas of current emphasis for the group are electrolytic capacitors, flow batteries, lithium capture, and ion transport in porous materials.