China 
Africa 
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Electric vehicles
Published in Peter M. Schwarz, Energy Economics, 2023
Lithium mining also has environmental consequences, as does any type of mining. Lithium is either extracted from hard rock or by using brine to pump out lithium from salt flats. The salt flats are concentrated in the South American countries of Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The process consumes large amounts of water, depleting the water supply in a very arid region. Its extraction also damages the landscape, with lakes that were formerly tourist areas now discolored and surrounded by mounds of discarded salt. Toxic chemicals used in the processing can leach into the surrounding soil. In Australia and North America, lithium is mined from rock, again using chemicals that can have impacts on the surrounding area and leaving a marred landscape. Cobalt is also an important constituent used in electric motors, with similar issues (Institute for Energy Research, 2020b). Most of it is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and controlled by China. The Congo is a war-torn country rife with corruption and human rights abuses (Institute for Energy Research, 2020a).
7Li
Published in Guillaume Madelin, X-Nuclei Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 2022
Lithium is the lightest known metal and can be combined with aluminum, copper, manganese, and cadmium to make strong, lightweight metals. Lithium and its compounds have many industrial applications, such as heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lithium grease lubricants, flux additives for iron, steel and aluminum production, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries (which use more than three quarters of lithium production). Lithium also has a low melting point and the highest heat capacity of any element, which can be applied as a coolant in some nuclear reactors. Lithium was important in early experiments in nuclear physics, where transmutation of lithium atoms to helium in 1932 was the first fully man-made nuclear reaction. Lithium deuteride (LiD) can serves as a fusion fuel in staged thermonuclear weapons. Lithium hydroxide (LiOH) is used to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere of spacecraft. Lithium stearate (LiC18H35O2) is used as a general purpose and high temperature lubricant. In medicine, lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is generally used as a drug to treat depression disorders and gout.
Renewable energy
Published in Peter N. Nemetz, Unsustainable World, 2022
It has also been suggested that electric vehicles (EVs) could act as backup storage for power grids during the night when they are not on the road, as that is when storage is needed most. As noted in Chapter 7, not all characteristics of the modern EV are environmentally benign. There are issues associated with the exotic metals and conflict minerals used in construction of EVs (New York Times November 20 and 29, 2021) and the looming e-waste timebomb is an additional problem; we will face the challenge of recycling lithium from spent batteries from the increasing number of EVs expected on global roads in the next decade (Oberhaus 2020; see also IEA 2021c). One possible alternative currently under development is the use of zinc rather than lithium since zinc is potentially cheaper and safer (Recharge 2021; Service 2021).
Fabric based printed-distributed battery for wearable e-textiles: a review
Published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2021
Adnan E. Ali, Varun Jeoti, Goran M. Stojanović
Table 2 summarizes the properties of textile batteries such as open voltage and capacity, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each type of batteries with regard to the charge/discharge cycle life, safety, and maintenance requirements. Among other types of batteries, the lithium-ion battery has received research attention due to its high-energy density. Usually, the lithium batteries contain flammable electrolyte solutions which poses safety concerns. However, the presented textile-based lithium battery is based on non-hazardous chemicals and provides a higher linear capacity, which depends on the volume of electrolyte solutions present in the textile fiber channel. This implies that the larger the volume of electrolyte solutions in the fibers, the more the capacities of the battery will be. Also, this textile battery also has specific energy ranging from 3.2 mWh/g to 11.2 mWh/g, depending on the discharge current and internal volume of the textile fibers channel. As a proof-of-concept, several of these textile lithium batteries were used to power up different electronic devices including a light-emitting diode where the current and voltage requirements were 20 mA and 3 V, respectively. These batteries contain aluminum and copper wires inserted into the textile structures by drawing process, which limits its performance; but still they could be easily integrated with different woven textile materials for various applications. Further improving the performance of these batteries, by optimizing the connection between textile fibers could find their potential application in the e- textiles industry.
Review of Lithium Production and Recovery from Minerals, Brines, and Lithium-Ion Batteries
Published in Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 2021
Fei Meng, James McNeice, Shirin S. Zadeh, Ahmad Ghahreman
Lithium is currently extracted from two main categories of deposits: minerals and brines. However, the irregular distribution of lithium minerals in the earth’s crust and uneven concentration in the brines have lead to severe restrictions on lithium mining. Since the rechargeable LIBs are widely used in cell phones, laptops, video cameras, EVs, military and medical devices, and grid storage applications, there will be a rapid increase in the demand for the LIBs over the next decade and beyond, and a potential pressure on lithium resources and stockpiles (Dunn et al. 2015; Lin, Pan and Wang. 2014; Meshram, Pandey and Mankhand 2014; Zhu, Xia and Feng 2015). EVs have gained popularity in recent years due to the technological advances and an increased focus on renewable energy and lower pollution. It is estimated that plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), EVs, and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) will account for 24% of the entire worldwide automotive market in 2030 (Electric Vehicle Outlook 2017). Large LIBs are and will continue to be required for the powering of all hybrid and electric vehicles, further increasing the pressure on lithium supply. It is imperative to research the rapid and accurate methods for separation, purification, and recovery of lithium from all viable resources. Although lithium is widely used in glass, ceramics, greases, etc., the lithium content in them is extremely low. All current lithium recycling is focused on ores, brines, and batteries.
Fractional Green–Naghdi theory for thermoelectric MHD
Published in Waves in Random and Complex Media, 2019
Dalia A. Aldawody, Mohamed H. Hendy, Magdy A. Ezzat
Liquid metals are considered to be the most promising coolants for high temperature applications like nuclear fusion reactors because of the inherent high thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and hence excellent heat transfer characteristics. Lithium is the lightest of all metals and has the highest specific heat per unit mass. Lithium is characterized by large thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity, low viscosity, low vapor pressure. Liquid metal in a closed container made of dissimilar metal under a magnetic field is, in general, set into motion by thermoelectric effects if the interfacial temperature is nonuniform, a situation likely to occur in fusion reactor blankets owing to the high thermoelectric power of lithium. Lithium is the most promising coolant for thermonuclear power installations. Shercliff [49] treats Hartmann flow and points out the relevance of thermoelectric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) in liquid metal use, such as lithium, in nuclear reactors.