Beyond freshwater generation: Mineral extraction from seawater desalination brine and seawater greenhouse (SG) farming

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2020

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

147,600 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Reducing the environmental impact of waste from desalination and valorization of to salt brine Desalination is becoming increasingly common in many countries where freshwater shortages occur. Worldwide freshwater production from the desalinization process is approaching ca 100 m3/d, corresponding to ca 3.3 million tone salt production as a waste. In this salt waste, there are a lot of elements that are demanded by various industrial activities. Such as Li and Mg. Salt-Mine studies the extraction of valuable elements from desalinization brine by combining frugal and sophisticated technologies. Both Li and Mg are essential for clean energy; for batteries, both elements are classified as critical elements for energy production with zero emission of CO2. The growth in Li demand is exponential while electric cars become more popular, which is why the amount of Li used is expected to increase exponentially. Similarly, Mg is a highly demanding element in clean energy technologies, including carbon capture, low-carbon cement, and next-generation batteries. Extracting Li from the sweater is challenging due to its low concentration (ca 180 µg/L). Electrochemical methods are promising but still expensive and have scale-up challenges, and they need to be improved. However, if the starting concentration of Li is 10–100 times higher, then electrochemical technology will be more economical. Here frugal technique to increase the Li concentration of seawater to 10-100 times would be an excellent complementary approach to electrochemical technology. Therefore we focused on separating and enriching both Li and Mg by frugal processes, using solar evaporation and pH manipulation by cheap basic solution.