Please write (about 200 words) on an innovative way to extract lithium from wastewater created by the University of Texas at Austin.



With the world’s mobile devices now demanding more lithium, the substance has been in short supply. The global requirements have far outpaced mankind’s ability to produce lithium. A new report from Science Advances reveals that a research team at the University of Texas at Austin has created an innovative way to produce lithium.

The research team was headed by Professor Benny Freeman from the Monash University Engineering Department. The team experimented with ways to extract lithium from water using a metal/organic framework membrane. Using this unique membrane, the process mimics the ion filtering procedure to efficiently separate metal ions.

Experts believe this new technology could greatly increase the world’s supply of lithium. In addition, it could open the door to new growth in a number of industries. Texas is one state with unusually high amounts in their wastewater produced by hydraulic fracturing. This supply is often wasted because technology has not been available to extract this element. All that is now changing.

