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  • Review Article
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Environmental impact of direct lithium extraction from brines

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 4, pages 149–165 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Evaporitic technology for lithium mining from brines has been questioned for its intensive water use, protracted duration and exclusive application to continental brines. In this Review, we analyse the environmental impacts of evaporitic and alternative technologies, collectively known as direct lithium extraction (DLE), for lithium mining, focusing on requirements for fresh water, chemicals, energy consumption and waste generation, including spent brines. DLE technologies aim to tackle the environmental and techno–economic shortcomings of current practice by avoiding brine evaporation. A selection of DLE technologies has achieved Li+ recovery above 95%, Li+/Mg2+ separation above 100, and zero chemical approaches. Conversely, only 30% of DLE test experiments were performed on real brines, and thus the effect of multivalent ions or large Na+/Li+ concentration differences on performance indicators is often not evaluated. Some DLE technologies involve brine pH changes or brine heating up to 80 oC for improved Li+ recovery, which require energy, fresh water and chemicals that must be considered during environmental impact assessments. Future research should focus on performing tests on real brines and achieving competitiveness in several performance indicators simultaneously. The environmental impact of DLE should be assessed from brine pumping to the production of the pure solid lithium product.

Key points

  • Fresh water consumption of direct lithium extraction (DLE) needs to be urgently quantified. Many DLE technologies might require larger freshwater volumes than current evaporative practices, compromising their applicability in arid locations.

  • Chemical processing is not completed until a pure solid product is obtained. Energy consumption of DLE should be estimated for the overall process, including potential water extraction or evaporation from pure but dilute LiCl solutions, as is the case with many DLE technologies.

  • Lithium ions are only a minor component in continental, geothermal and oilfield brines. Thus, from a circular economy perspective, there is potential for extraction of more than one valuable mineral, notably, borates, magnesium, potassium and sodium salts.

  • Knowledge of the precise number, distribution and depths of brine and fresh water wells is vital for hydrogeological modelling of lithium brine deposits. The distinct hydrogeology of each salar means that each deposit should be modelled independently, and results from one exploitation cannot be directly extrapolated to another.

  • Environmental monitoring should be permanent and precede the start of the exploitation as environmental impacts might only be observable in the long term. Water monitoring requires gathering precipitation data, river flows and a sufficient number of observation wells to follow water tables at different locations.

  • Environmental monitoring guidelines have been drafted with evaporitic technology in mind, but they should also be applied to the implementation of any DLE technology, which still consumes brine, uses fresh water and produces residues, the latter two hopefully at considerably lower volumes.

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Fig. 1: Lithium sources and exploitation.
Fig. 2: Direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, freshwater inputs and spent brine production.
Fig. 3: Ion concentrations in selected continental and geothermal brines worldwide.
Fig. 4: Brine processing performance indicators.
Fig. 5: Lithium mining in a circular economy framework.

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Acknowledgements

M.L.V. acknowledges a post-doctoral fellowship from Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). W.R.T., C.I.G. and V.F. are CONICET permanent research fellows. This work was supported by Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación (ANPCyT), AR (grant number PICT 2019–1939).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: María L. Vera, Walter R. Torres.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIDMEJu, CONICET — Universidad Nacional de Jujuy, Jujuy, Argentina

    María L. Vera, Walter R. Torres & Victoria Flexer

  2. CEGA-INSUGEO, CONICET — Universidad Nacional de Salta, Salta, Argentina

    Claudia I. Galli

  3. CNRS, GeoRessources, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France

    Alexandre Chagnes

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Contributions

M.L.V., W.R.T., A.C. and V.F. researched data for the article. M.L.V., W.R.T. and V.F. contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors wrote the article. V.F. reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Glossary

Brine

Aqueous solutions of extremely high ionic strength, with total dissolved solids values of 100–400 g l−1, most solids are inorganic salts.

Circular economy

A model of production and consumption. Following the European Union definition, it involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as much as possible.

Continental brines

Continental brines are found in underground reservoirs within salars, typically in locations with arid climates.

Fresh water

Low salinity water, typically <3 g l−1 TDS, although this cut-off value varies.

Life-cycle analysis

A quantitative methodology implemented to evaluate the environmental impact of a given product through its entire life cycle, from extraction and processing of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, potential recycling and final disposal.

Lithium Triangle

A region encompassing northwest Argentina, southwest Bolivia and northern Chile, where a large concentration of lithium-rich deposits is found.

Native brines

Real brine samples, continental or geothermal brines as they are pumped from underground reservoirs, before undergoing any processing or chemical treatment.

Oilfield brines

Brines that are found during deep rock penetration by drilling during oil and gas extraction and considered as waste by these industries.

Phreatic evaporation

Refers to evaporation of shallow groundwater into the atmosphere directly from the soil through the porous ground surface.

Salar

Salars (Spanish term for salt lake or salt flat) are endorheic sedimentary basins containing thick sequences of continental evaporites and clastic deposits.

Salar de Atacama

The third largest salar in the Lithium Triangle, located in northern Chile; the two largest facilities for lithium mining from brines are located here.

Spent brines

Brine that has undergone processing via some direct lithium extraction technology; with Li+ concentration largely depleted, but concentrations from other species similar to native brine.

Total dissolved solids

(TDS). The sum, by mass, of all solids dissolved in an aqueous solution, irrespective of their chemical formulae.

Water table

Surface below which water (or brine) fills any spaces between sediments or rocks. At the water table level, water and atmospheric pressure values are equal.

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Vera, M.L., Torres, W.R., Galli, C.I. et al. Environmental impact of direct lithium extraction from brines. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 149–165 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00387-5

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