The United States gets most of its lithium-ion batteries from China, which has led at times to supply chain challenges. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The U.S. is sitting on some of the biggest lithium deposits in the world—at least 14 million tons, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Given that demand for the metal is forecast to increase by a factor of five or even 10 times, addressing local availability is a key challenge to energy security. Ihor Hlova, a scientist at the Critical Materials Innovation (CMI) Hub at Ames National Laboratory, is leading research to address the problem.
One of the issues said, Hlova, is that the lithium in the United States is tied up in a rock-hard mineral called spodumene, lithium aluminum inosilicate, LiAl(SiO₃)₂. Extraction of lithium from spodumene involves a series of expensive and energy-intensive steps that emit unwanted greenhouse gases and result in hazardous waste streams. The two-step process involves heating the mineral ore twice. First, spodumene is roasted at 1,050 °C (1,976 °F) to convert it into a state suitable for chemical processing. Then it is heated along with chemicals to a temperature of around 250 °C to a form suitable for Li-ion battery production.
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Critical Materials Innovation Hub