Lithium is the world’s most sought-after soft metal. This is not surprising, since its peculiar atomic configuration has allowed electric batteries to be created from it. However, it has also meant that its growing demand and increasingly scarce supply disproportionately affects the increasingly incredible price of electric products that need batteries: mobile phones, laptops and, above all, electric vehicles. In a framework in which it seems that all brands want to create their own electric car, the framework in which we move is increasingly necessary for the emergence of alternatives to lithium or the discovery of new sources to achieve it. Now, it seems that we are in this second scenario, since the United States has a vast deposit of lithium.
A gigantic reservoir of the world’s most sought-after soft metal
According to ScienceAlert, in September 2023 a group of scientists claimed to have found the largest lithium deposit in the United States. Now, another appears to have found it in wastewater after heavy use of fracking, one of the most controversial practices for finding oil or natural gas deposits. Thus, this wastewater resulting from fracking seems to have a large amount of lithium, which gives the United States wings to have a new and important entry point to achieve productive identity in the electric car industry. In fact, until now they planned to have precisely this long-awaited independence by 2030, but it could be accelerated thanks to these important findings.
Specifically, it is located in Pennsylvania, a state whose geological formation encloses the site in a vein of gigantic sedimentary rock that has natural gas and lithium that was formed 400 million years ago thanks to the profuse volcanic activity of the region in the past. It is an area where there are several extinct supervolcanoes that have left important sources of income for the region thanks to mining. Fracking activities occur in the region, causing wastewater to emerge in which lithium has been dissolved from the sedimentary rocks on which Pennsylvania is located. In this way, the researchers believe that it must be an incredible source of lithium since these waters had a lot of it. Wastewater arises from the pumping of water into the earth for the release of gas and other substances, causing side effects as damaging as earthquakes.
Until now, lithium has been lost as fracking wastewater is re-injected to extract mineral gas, so one of the most coveted resources in recent years would have gone unnoticed for these activities and would not have been valued. It is believed that if lithium from these waters were put into production, 30% of the U.S. lithium demand would be fully covered.
Be that as it may, fracking is not a particularly beloved activity, so, although it is good news, it is really in a partial way, since it involves an extractive formula that worsens the quality of life of the people who live in the places where it is practiced. Thus, it may be more interesting to look for alternatives such as the long-awaited hydrogen engine or simply to achieve much more efficient solid-state batteries.
Comments