Essential lithium: magic metal or dead-end technology?

Policymakers, in a bid to accelerate the transition from a carbon to a green economy, regularly say lithium and other rare earths will soon become more important than oil and gas. Experts predict a fourfold increase in lithium demand by 2040. Although already in 2025, in terms of market value and demand, lithium has become the most popular metal in the world. In essence, lithium underlies all of the current human post-Nidustrial civilization, although most people have no idea what this metal looks like.

Lithium was discovered in 1817 and is a silvery-white soft metal. Why is it so late? It belongs to the group of alkali metals and has a high reactivity, therefore it does not occur in nature in its pure form, only in compounds. Research on the use of lithium in the electrochemical industry has been conducted since 1970. At that time, lithium was already widely used - from pharmacology to heavy industry and nuclear power. In 1991, Sony introduced the first finished version of the lithium-ion battery - we still use it today. However, in the 21st century, simultaneously with the explosive development of mobile electronics and electric vehicles, the demand for such energy sources has grown sharply.

Currently, more than 50 percent of the world's lithium production goes to the production of batteries: these batteries have proven themselves to be one of the most capacious, available for mass production. Alas, simultaneously with the demand for lithium, there were problems with its extraction and disposal, which currently do not have a safe solution.

Most of the lithium deposits are located in the highlands on the borders of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina - this is the so-called "lithium triangle." Unlike the fantasy plans of many countries to mine lithium, in South America this has been done for a long time and confidently. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Bolivia has reserves of about 23 million tons of lithium, Argentina - 22 million tons, Chile - 11 million tons.

The lightest metals on Earth are mined from lithium-rich brines commonly found in arid salt marshes such as Bolivia's Uyuni Valley and the Atacama Desert, located in northern Chile.

There are two methods of lithium mining: ore - used mainly in China, and hydromineral - used just in South America. In the first case, the metal is mined in mines or quarries, in the second - from underground brines. Brine method of lithium extraction is cheaper than ore. It consists of pumping brine into ponds on salt marshes, evaporation for 12-18 months and subsequent treatment with fresh water of lithium chloride crystals. They crystallize themselves after many days of evaporation in the sun. But this process requires an incredible amount of fresh water. For the extraction of 1 ton of lithium, it is necessary to spend more than 2 million liters.

In the Chilean Atacama Desert, lithium has been mined since 1983 and local ecologists have accumulated some statistics. Due to the lack of moisture that goes to wash lithium in salt marshes, already arid areas are deprived of pasture grass, which poses a threat to farms. The flow rate of water in the San Pedro River, from which water is taken to lithium production, has decreased from 1200 to 350 liters per second since 2008, which threatens to deplete water supplies for the population. Water scarcity has reduced Atacama's flamingo population by 10 percent since lithium mining began, according to a study published in 2022.

Importantly, the lithium mining process is very imperfect. According to Albemarle, which operates in Chile, the loss of lithium during evaporation and salt washing reaches 45 percent. Turning to dust, lithium with winds rises into the air and poisons living organisms. Another problem is chemical effluents that pollute rivers and water bodies. Fish die, and drinking water becomes unusable. Man poisoning with lithium threatens blindness.

International mining and chemical companies are developing alternative methods for the production of lithium in South America, for the sake of the efficiency of production processes. Direct column extraction technologies have efficiencies of 70-90 percent, extracting far more lithium from brine than can be obtained by evaporation. However, water consumption remains intense, plus chemical waste is added, due to the use of solvents. In addition, this method needs a large amount of electricity. And this is already some kind of paradox - to spend a lot of electricity on a component for batteries.

In China, the lithium-containing layer lies much deeper. There, a quarry method of mining this metal is used and even more harm is done to the environment. But the PRC authorities until recently diligently left behind the scenes environmental problems - this made it possible to reduce the cost of lithium production. In principle, the increase in the number of Chinese startups in the production of alternative sources of electricity shows that China is feverishly looking for a replacement for lithium-based batteries. Its extraction is too expensive for man and nature.

In addition to lithium mining, an equally headache is the disposal and recycling of used lithium-ion batteries. They can be recycled, but spent lithium-ion batteries can release hydrofluoric acid. It is highly corrosive, can enter the body by inhalation or through the skin. Hydrofluoric acid is toxic to humans. Also in batteries, lithium, for better conductivity, is mixed with heavy metals, also toxic to living organisms.

Now small lithium batteries from smartphones and other electronic devices are being disposed of creakily, and in the near future, humanity will face the massive disposal of large batteries from electric vehicles. So a full-blown crisis is yet to come. Who, how and where will recycle batteries in industrial volumes if all motorists suddenly switch to electric cars? They haven't really figured out the old tires yet.

It should be added that lithium-ion batteries are fire hazardous if improperly handled or stored. Accordingly, the processing of batteries is complicated by the instability of lithium - it quickly interacts with water and air, ignites and explodes. This primarily concerns lithium-polymer batteries.

Thus, the transnational processing company Veolia has noted a 38 percent increase in the number of fires since 2017 due to the presence of lithium batteries in total waste. The German Steel Confederation states that about 90 percent of all fires at waste disposal facilities are caused by lithium batteries.