【Ten Years of Great Progress in Chemical Technology】011 – The world’s first seawater lithium extraction project launched in Qingdao

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On March 8, the signing ceremony for the world’s first cooperative project for lithium extraction from concentrated brine produced by seawater desalination was held at Qingdao Water Group’s Seawater Desalination Company. This project will be carried out jointly by Qingdao Water Group Desalination Company and Lisi (Shanghai) Materials Technology Co., Ltd., with the aim of extracting the valuable element lithium from the concentrated brine resulting from seawater desalination, thereby opening up a new pathway for the extraction of lithium resources. 　　It is understood that lithium is widely used in industries such as batteries, ceramics, glass, lubricants, refrigerants, the nuclear industry, and optoelectronics. Currently, the development of lithium resources mainly focuses on brine from salt lakes and pegmatite-type lithium deposits. Due to factors such as limited exploitable resources, the absence of industrial electricity in the areas where extraction is possible, and high costs associated with dealing with waste generated during the extraction process, China’s dependence on imported lithium resources is as high as 74.5%. It is estimated that by 2025, China’s self-sufficiency rate in lithium resources will be only 9.6%, meaning that there will always be a shortage of lithium resources in the long term. 　　Seawater contains 230 billion tons of lithium resources. Expanding the applications for lithium extraction from seawater to coastal power plants and industrial projects that utilize seawater directly will help ensure China’s self-sufficiency in lithium resources, alleviate the heavy reliance on imports for these resources, and also expand the seawater desalination industry chain, fostering the clustered development of related industries. It is reported that Qingdao Water Group will use the implementation of this cooperation project for lithium extraction from concentrated brine produced by seawater desalination as an opportunity to further expand the seawater desalination industry chain and enhance the concentration of activities in this sector. 　　Tang Weiping, a professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, explained that lithium-ion sieve materials adsorb lithium ions from seawater in an instant through ion exchange; therefore, even when the concentration of lithium ions in seawater is as low as 0.17 ppm, they still maintain a high adsorption efficiency. The lithium extraction process is integrated with a zero-emission process, ensuring no negative impact on the marine ecological environment. This material can also be widely applied to lithium extraction from salt lakes. 　　Yuan Dong, chairman of Lisi Technology, said that this project has set a precedent for the large-scale extraction of lithium from seawater, opening up new sources of lithium resources; it also provides a new technical roadmap for applications such as large-scale, efficient, and environmentally friendly lithium extraction from salt lakes. At the current price of lithium carbonate, there is still a reasonable profit margin for lithium extraction from seawater. 　　It is reported that the project will be located at the Baifa Seawater Desalination Plant owned by Qingdao Water Group; the construction of the project as well as the plans for commercial cooperation have been finalized, with official operation expected to begin by the end of December this year. Next, Qingdao Water Group’s Seawater Desalination Company and Lisi Technology will adhere to a development path focused on high-end standards, large-scale operations, clustering, and intelligence, in order to accelerate the construction of projects for lithium extraction from concentrated seawater desalination brine.