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new lithium mining technology has

emerged bringing mining times down from

18 months to just a few days and sending

Purity skyrocketing from 30 to 90

percent how does this new method work

how expensive is it and most importantly

when are we going to see it in the field

let's find out

first of all what is nanotechnology

nanotechnology is any technology that is

designed to work at sizes smaller than

100 nanometers and greater than one

nanometer

this technology is currently being used

by a startup energyx to revolutionize

lithium mining lithium as you probably

know is one of the most important parts

of Lithium-ion batteries it's in the

name so you can guess just how essential

it is

with the increase in the demand for

lithium there has been a growing need

for better and cheaper mining methods

lithium prices and demand have shot up

as EV companies speed up manufacturing

and Mobile sales go up

according to statista the demand for

lithium back in 2019 was around 263

000 metric tons and by current

projections this number is going to

surpass 2 million by 2030. to make

things even more alarming that's double

what the projections are for 2025 a 100

increase in just five years this means

that not only do we have to speed up the

process but we must also make it much

more scalable currently lithium is mined

from Salt Flats these flats are spread

over hundreds if not thousands of

hectares and need to be completely dried

up to extract the lithium from within

the salt the entire process takes

roughly 18 months and is incredibly

expensive and inefficient with just 30

recovery to cut a long story short it's

impossible to rely on this method if

you're looking to fulfill lithium

demands in the coming years

energyx has an idea they plan to use

metal organic Frameworks or mofs

invented in the 1990s mofs are

microscopic Arrangements of metal atoms

usually aluminum and zirconium that can

be used to filter lithium and other

metals from a solution

as of right now there are over 90 000

types of mofs with each having its own

distinct uses and functions the type of

mof that energyx plans to use is based

on Research conducted at the University

of Texas the Monash University and csiro

the Commonwealth scientific and

Industrial research organization Dr

Huang Ting Wang's mof research at Monash

University and Dr beanie Freeman's

membrane research at the University of

Texas were combined to come up with the

tech the technology Works in a couple of

ways utilizing multiple Pathways to

purify lithium the first and by far the

easiest ways through the size sieving

effect in essence the size saving effect

is when the mof acts as a sieve mofs

have atoms that are aligned in a

specific way to generate very narrow

pore sizes while retaining a very high

surface area this means that if brine

with a high lithium concentration is

passed through an mof membrane it can

pass through it like a sieve whereas

larger molecules like magnesium and Cal

calcium which are 100 to 200 percent

larger than lithium failed to do so

the second way mof's work is by

utilizing the electrochemical Affinity

between the metal atom in the framework

and the lithium ion being filtered

through the sieve the electronegativity

difference means that the flow rate of

only lithium is enough for it to make it

through the mesh whereas any magnesium

or calcium ions that might have somehow

made it past any broken mesh hole are

repelled away

energyx CEO Teague Egan explained how

the technology being used at energy X

had been developed by Nobel

prize-winning American scientist John B

good enough a person considered by most

to be the creator of the modern day

lithium-ion battery the team working at

energy X is basically Dr John B good

enough's University of Texas battery

team their VP for example is Dr John's

last PhD student while other members of

the team are also various postdoctoral

graduates who worked with Dr John at

some point Dr John's understanding of

how Lithium-ion batteries fundamentally

work combined with The Cutting Edge

technology being used at energyx has

been super helpful in coming up with

innovative solutions to the lithium

problem

now while this does sound amazing mfo

membranes aren't a one-size-fits-all

solution the mfo membranes need to be

adjusted and modified according to the

Salt concentration and the different

quantities of minerals present in brine

specific to a region Bolivian brine for

example has higher magnesium content

whereas Argentinian brine might have a

higher calcium concentration

whatever the case might be mfos do look

like the right way to go they need just

a few warehouses to process the brine

instead of thousands of hectares of salt

flats and unlike some other lithium

processing methods like water intensive

resin extraction aren't limited by the

raw materials present to cap it all the

cost is half of what traditional

processing costs down from five thousand

dollars per ton for Salt Flat lithium

extraction to about twenty five hundred

dollars per ton for energy X mfo

membrane lithium extraction the entire

process is completely scalable too the

first plant that energy X started in

Bolivia was a success and proved that

technology was just as good in the field

as it was in the lab now all that's left

is for them to scale production and from

what the CEO has to say about it we

expect good things to happen in 2023

according to him they're planning to

install units that are 10 to 15 times

larger than the Bolivian pilot plan and

can process 10 to 15 times the volume of

brine in 2023 3 however they plan to

scale this up even more with modular

equipment 15 times as large as what

they're installing right now bringing

the grand total of their 2023

demonstration units to 225 times the

size of their Bolivian pilot plants

as if revolutionizing lithium mining

wasn't enough energyx also plans to step

into the solid-state battery business

soon they have the lithium for it and

since they aren't plagued by the same

lithium supply chain issues that other

companies are struggling with it does

seem like The Logical Next Step

energyx claims that it's currently

focusing on developing a new separator

for its batteries anode and cathode and

once they're done with that they plan to

partner with cell phone companies to

ship those batteries we're developing

Next Generation lithium metal batteries

and looking to partner with large cell

makers to make these chemistries on a

large scale for electric vehicles

currently the company has over 50

patents covering its proprietary

lithium-ion transport and separation

lytos Tech and solid-state lithium metal

Battery Technology the commercial side

of the business is also going really

well with energy X recently getting 450

million dollars from International

Investment firm gem according to

Jonathan Collins managing director of

The Gem group a tech heavy ESG company

mining in the Emerging Market is a rare

find and Gem is delighted to partner

with energyx a leader and innovator in

the complicated and historically

inefficient lithium extraction space

with new funds and great technology

energyx does look like it might just be

the future talking about their contract

with gem energyx said that gems funding

for energy X was one of the company's

biggest accomplishments to date and that

it gave them award chess to work with

and scale up their business model

apparently energy X is not done coming

up with industry-leading tech and

mentioned how they were going to use the

funding from gem to work on some more

ideas they had in the lab

to conclude energy X has come up with a

solution for historically inefficient

process and their solution is better in

every way possible

they've also successfully tested the

technology and partnered with a

multi-billion dollar Investment Group to

launch and perfect the technology as

they go forward I hope you enjoyed

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