Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources to Commercialize Lithium Extraction from Seawater

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With a lithium race looming over the electric vehicle industry, individuals, companies and governments are scrambling to find the best ways to provide the world with more lithium. As it stands now, the price of lithium is less than $1 per kilogram, but if predictions of outstripping lithium supplies within the next four or five years come true, the price is expected to increase considerably.

If prices do increase in the not-too-distant future, so will the feasibility of extracting lithium from seawater. South Korea is hoping to tap into the market, whose demand is expected to swell to 20,000 tons per year in the near future, and create a domestic resource network, reducing its reliance on imports. Domestic industrial demand currently totals 5,000 tons per year, none of which is produced in-country, as most lithium is mined or recovered in China or Chile.

In March, the Korean Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs announced that the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources (KIGAM) (Gangneung, Korea), along with POSCO ICT Company Limited (SEO:022100) (Pohang, South Korea), an engineering branch of South Korea's steel giant, are planning the development of an experimental plant that will aim to extract lithium from seawater. KIGAM has developed a self-proclaimed efficient method of extraction that will utilize an ion exchange between lithium and a manganese dioxide composite. The composite shows specific selectivity for lithium ions in the alkaline conditions, such as seawater, the pH of which typically hovers around 8.1. KIGAM and POSCO ICT plan to begin construction of the $30 million pilot plant next month in Gangneung, approximately 175 kilometers east of Seoul in the Gangwong province, on the coast of the Sea of Japan. When the pilot plant is completed next March, KIGAM will initially aim to extract 30 tons of lithium from seawater annually, in hopes of curbing the demand for lithium-ion batteries. If the pilot is successful, POSCO is hoping to ramp up recovery to more than 20,000 tons per year to replace at least $200 million worth of imports.

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