Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by Retric on Friday July 09, 2021 @09:43PM
(#27790406)
Platinum has ultra low reactivity, slightly below gold. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactivity_series
Ruthenium… edit: ops NN.
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by meepmorp on Friday July 09, 2021 @10:06PM
(#27790552)
Ruthenium is another platinum group metal. Rubidium is an alkali metal; like a heavier, surlier sodium.
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by amluto on Friday July 09, 2021 @09:55PM
(#27790480)
Are you perhaps confusing Ruthenium with Rubidium?
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by Retric on Friday July 09, 2021 @10:16PM
(#27790601)
Yes, thanks. I realized something wasn’t right but just glossed over it. I clearly need to get some sleep.
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by Dylan16807 on Friday July 09, 2021 @09:41PM
(#27790392)
A measurement of how much electricity it uses is not speculation. Don't go too far in your skepticism.
Edit: Unless someone has a specific reason I'm wrong, I stand by this. A criticism that makes four good points and one bad point is worse than a criticism that just makes four good points. I don't see any reason to call out the electricity use specifically as "pure speculation". It's only part of the cost but it's not a made-up number, and it's not a number that should change significantly between the lab and the real world.
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by longwick on Friday July 09, 2021 @09:41PM
(#27790393)
This is the fundamental issue. If there is a environmentally friendly way to industrially produce something, it is not rewarded by our current system of capitalism. It is a form of green capitalism, still looking for profits to guide us to the best solution (when in fact there are better solutions. Our assertion of value is based solely on profits which is fundamentally at odds with this climate emergency. Would love to hear alternative thoughts.
Re:We can now harvest usable lithium from seawater: study
by parineum on Friday July 09, 2021 @11:47PM
(#27790966)
Many people consider one of the roles of government to create markets for technologies like you're describing which would otherwise have no markets. Markets are quite good at finding good solutions.
Pursuit of profits isn't at odds with addressing climate change, we just need to make it profitable.
His team also aims to enter a collaboration with the glass industry, to develop the LLTO membrane at greater scales with affordable cost.
five dollars of electricity (to extract) 1kg of lithium
In other words, they have this working on a lab bench, and the cost estimates are pure speculation.
a copper cathode coated in ruthenium and platinum.
Ruthenium - US$25,000/kg.
Platinium - US$35,000/kg.
Anode cost not included in cost estimate.
This is going to turn on all the usual cost factors - how often do you have to replace the membrane and the anode, what about corrosion, does it need cleaning, etc. There's no question that this is possible, but a big question is whether it is cost effective.