H. Rathnayake, S. Dawood, K. Adrah
Minerva Lithium, LLC/ University of North Carolina Greensboro,
United States
Keywords: lithium, critical minerals, separation technology, sorbents
Summary:
Minerva Lithium, LLC, collaborating with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro has developed a novel Nano Mosaic Solid- Phase Extraction (SPE) Technology for recovering lithium from produced water resources, utilizing a bio-based and readily available sorbent material. Nanoporosity and tailored pore size of the Nano Mosaic Sorbent Technology provides molecular sieving ability and selective chemical affinity to lithium, providing fast and efficient lithium extraction and recovery. This lithium extraction technology will significantly reduce the cost, and cut down the extraction time, literally from 2 years to a couple of hours in some cases. Our goal is to bring this lab-originated Nano Mosaic SPE technology to a commercially value point-of-use technology, which can be incorporated into existing solar evaporation ponds and ion-exchange extraction plants to recover lithium from different types of brine solutions, efficiently and effectively.