المملكة: KAUST develops a technology that detects lithium reserves in oil fields and seawater

A recent study conducted by scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and published in the scientific journal Science developed a new technology to extract lithium directly from brine found in oil fields and seawater, where lithium is found in very low concentrations.
This technology was tested on a 100,000 times larger scale compared to university laboratories, and its cost was competitive with traditional techniques that have not proven effective with low-concentration brine, and the possibility of extracting lithium from brine may contribute to increasing its global availability by hundreds of billions of tons, which may It contributes to the transformation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from an importing country to a producing country for this element, which is in great demand.

Lithium extraction at low concentrations

This technology is highly sensitive, allowing it to extract lithium from brine at concentrations as low as 20 ppm, without the need to add any contaminants or additional materials.
This makes the lithium extraction process economically feasible, especially for sources that contain low concentrations of lithium, such as the oil fields spread throughout the Kingdom.

Taking advantage of osmotic energy

Co-chair of the Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Storage Technologies and lead researcher on the project, Professor Zhiping Lai, explained that the electrical redox bridge has been optimized to take advantage of the osmotic energy resulting from the difference in concentration between the high-salinity brine and the extraction solution, which leads to reduced energy consumption in the process. Lithium extraction.
He added that such innovations could contribute to creating new value in the fields of oil, mining and geothermal energy, especially in locations where the resulting water is considered waste.
It is estimated that salt water and seawater contain more than 10,000 times the lithium reserves currently available, increasing the world’s total lithium resources from 22 million tons to more than 230 billion tons.