Lithium Recovery from Brines by Lithium Membrane Flow Capacitive Deionization (Li-MFCDI)—A Proof of Concept
Open accessAbstract
The demand of lithium for electric vehicles and energy storage devices is increasing rapidly, thus new sources of lithium (such as seawater and natural or industrial brines), as well as sustainable methods for its recovery, will need to be explored/developed soon. This work presents a novel electromembrane process, called Lithium Membrane Flow Capacitive Deionization (Li-MFCDI), which was tested to recover lithium from a synthetic geothermal brine containing a much higher mass concentration of sodium than lithium (more than 650 times). Specifically, a ceramic lithium-selective membrane was integrated into a flow capacitive deionization (FCDI) cell, which was specifically designed, and 3D printed, to allow simultaneous charging and regeneration of the employed flow electrodes. Despite the extremely high Na+/Li+ mass ratio in the feed stream, 99.98 % of the sodium was rejected and the process selectivity for lithium over other monovalent cations was 141 ± 5.85 for Li+/Na+ and 46 ± 1.46 for Li+/K+. The Li-MFCDI process exhibited a stable behaviour over a 7-day test period, and the estimated energy consumption was 16.70 ± 1.63 kWh/kg of Li+ recovered in the draw solution. These results demonstrate promising potential of the Li-MFCDI for the sustainable lithium recovery from saline streams.
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Li-MFCDI equipped with a ceramic lithium-selective membrane achieved a lithium selectivity of 46 for Li+/K+.
“achieved a lithium selectivity of 141 for Li + /Na + and 46 for Li + /K +”
From Electrochemical Direct Lithium Extraction: A Review of Electrodialysis and Capacitive Deionization Technologies (2025) · cites this paper as [99]
Li-MFCDI equipped with a ceramic lithium-selective membrane achieved a lithium selectivity of 141 for Li+/Na+.
“achieved a lithium selectivity of 141 for Li + /Na + and 46 for Li + /K +”
From Electrochemical Direct Lithium Extraction: A Review of Electrodialysis and Capacitive Deionization Technologies (2025) · cites this paper as [99]
The energy consumption of the Li-MFCDI process was 16.70 kWh/kg.
“the energy consumption of the Li-MFCDI process was 16.70 kWh/kg”
From Electrochemical Direct Lithium Extraction: A Review of Electrodialysis and Capacitive Deionization Technologies (2025) · cites this paper as [99]
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“Additionally, the energy consumption of the Li-MFCDI process was 16.70 kWh/kg, demonstrating its efficiency and sustainability [99].”
Influential
- Authors
- Saif, H. M., Crespo, J. G., & Pawlowski, S.
- Affiliations
- LAQV Requimte (PT)
- Corresponding author
- Pawlowski, S.
- Venue
- Journal of Membrane Science Letters
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-11
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 100059
- ISSN
- 2772-4212 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4385782925
- Cited by
- 35
- References
- 23
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 10
- FWCI
- 2.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Membrane Science Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Horizon 2020 (869467)
- Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (PTDC/EQU-EQU/6193/2020, UIDB/50006/2020)
- Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (2020.09828)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Membrane-based Ion Separation Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Membrane Separation Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Extraction and Separation Processes
- Keywords
- lithium recovery, brine, geothermal brine, ceramic membranes, electromembrane processes, 3D-printed electrodes, energy consumption
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