Speedy lithium extraction on horizon
AN international research team, led by Australia’s Monash university, has pioneered a new lithium filtration technique that could change energy production drastically. The synthetic Metal-Organic Framework (MOF) membrane can filter lithium ions dramatically faster and uses a highly selective technique, promising a 90pc lithium recovery rate. The study has presented its findings in the prestigious Nature Materials journal, illustrating the way in which MOF channels mimic the “ion selectivity” of biological ion channels embedded within a cell membrane. University of Texas McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor Benny Freeman, said that thanks to the international, interdisciplinary and collaborative team involved in this research, new routes to very selective separation membranes are being discovered. “Based on this new research, we could…