Accidental Breakthrough Could Revolutionize Global Lithium Extraction

By Haley Zaremba - Dec 18, 2025

• A new, accidental discovery by University of Michigan scientists allows for the cost-effective extraction of lithium from magnesium-rich brines by using charged membranes without electricity.
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• The conventional method for extracting lithium from these common brines is often financially non-viable due to the presence of magnesium, leaving more than half the world's lithium untapped.
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• This separation strategy is a potential game-changer because it eliminates water-intensive steps, making lithium extraction cleaner, more sustainable, and less dependent on the few nations that currently dominate the global supply.

Lithium-ion batteries dominate the tech world. You probably have at least one within reach right this moment, considering that lithium-ion batteries now power a whopping 70 percent of all rechargeable devices, from your smartphone to electric vehicles, and even power utility-scale energy storage. And while the tech industry is eager to diversify battery design to relieve its dependency on this “white gold”, lithium continues to dominate the sector – and will likely remain essential for a long time to come. 

While lithium is extremely useful and abundant for all kinds of tech sector applications, there are some serious downsides to its extraction and sourcing. Firstly, lithium mining and extraction involves a lot of toxic substances, and has seriously negative impacts on ecosystems, water resources, and the health of nearby communities. Second, lithium supply chains are currently dominated by just a few markets, creating critical geopolitical vulnerabilities. At present, the International Energy Agency (IEA) ranks lithium’s geopolitical risk as a 3 out of 5, as 85% of global lithium production comes from just three nations – Australia, Chile, and China. Third, there are serious concerns about whether supply can stand up to demand. The IEA says that lithium has a “high” degree of supply risk, characterized by extreme price volatility. 

Demand for lithium is expected to skyrocket in coming years as renewable energy and electrification continue to grow on a global scale, and battery energy storage becomes an ever-greater market sector. A scientific paper published in Communications Earth & Environment late last year reported that “lithium demand is poised to sustain an annual growth of 18% over the next three decades” and that supply and demand trends “indicate a projected global lithium demand of 1.93 million metric tons in 2050, a significant increase of 26.2 times compared to 2023.”

Considering these multiple concerns over the sustainability and financial stability of lithium supplies and supply chains, there is considerable uncertainty and concern about the future of the sector. But a new breakthrough from scientists at the University of Michigan may seriously disrupt lithium supply chains, making the white gold cleaner and more sustainable to extract and more financially viable to produce in a greater number of locations. 

More than half of the world’s lithium is found in naturally occurring brines, but most of that remains untapped because the presence of magnesium complicates the lithium extraction process and makes it financially non-viable. However, the Michigan researchers found that when they use charged membranes and remove electricity from the equation, they can extract lithium from magnesium brines in a much more cost-effective way. 

“In some natural brines, the conventional approach isn’t economical, so people aren’t utilizing the resource,” Jovan Kamcev, associate professor of chemical engineering and one of the scientists behind the discovery, recently told Interesting Engineering. 

The discovery happened by accident, in a simple laboratory experiment. The scientists were testing membranes that were designed for electrodialysis when they discovered that lithium behaved differently than expected in the process. They discovered that without the presence of electricity, lithium passed through the membrane while magnesium stayed behind. This simple feat could be a total gamechanger for extracting one of the most demanded materials in the clean energy transition. 

“This separation strategy can recover lithium without the water-intensive steps that pose sustainability concerns in current technologies,” said Lisby Santiago-Pagán, a doctoral student and co-first author of the study, which was recently published in the scientific journal Nature Chemical Engineering. 

There is still a lot more work to be done to see whether this method will work in practical applications, but it could potentially be a major disruptor for a critical sector of the energy industry. 

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com