International Battery Metals Ltd (IBATF)

[bb221]

New Argonne Study Puts Charge Into Drive for Sustainable Lithium Production

A critical new study by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory has yielded fresh critical insights into the lithium production process and its relation to long-term environmental sustainability, particularly in the area of transportation with batteries and electric vehicles.

According to Argonne lifecycle analyst and lead author Jarod Kelly, the researchers found that the sourcing of lithium, from both a process and location perspective, can strongly affect its associated environmental impacts.

“The results show that concentrated lithium brine and its related end products can vary significantly in energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, sulfur dioxide emissions, and water consumption depending upon the resource allocation method used,” Kelly explained.

The highlights of the study are:

-Cradle-to-gate life cycle comparison of lithium from brine and spodumene ore.

-Li2CO3 and LiOH•H2O from brine have lower life cycle GHG emissions than from ore.

-Lithium source meaningfully affects lithium-ion battery environmental footprints.

-Freshwater consumption is lower for brine-based products than ore-based products.

Learn more by downloading the scientific paper: https://buff.ly/3AUg90G