Research Projects

The global shift toward electrification and renewable energy has driven a surge in critical mineral demand, including India, with lithium heading the list. However, with increasing global demand, conventional lithium sources primarily mineral ores are becoming insufficient and environmentally unsustainable. Seawater and salt-lake brines represent vast and untapped lithium reservoirs. Despite the low Li⁺ concentrations (~0.17 mg/L in seawater), their sheer volume offers a sustainable source if selective and efficient extraction techniques are developed. Efficient separation processes are critical for the cost-effective extraction of lithium from brine and highly impaired waters (produced water, mining wastewaters, recycling streams and sea water). Membrane technologies are emerging as sustainable, low-cost and highly energy-efficient methods for many separation processes. However, existing membranes cannot extract critical minerals from these low-grade sources. The project will develop new membranes that can revolutionize the extraction and recovery of critical minerals with a focus on lithium extraction and recovery. These membranes will be robust and highly selective, effectively separating lithium from competing ions. Lithium ion sieve materials such as metal organic framework (MOF), integrated into hollow fiber membrane systems, offer adsorptive selectivity towards target lithium ions. Incorporating MOF into hollow fiber membrane structures enables large-area, scalable, and high-throughput separation systems. The project team will bring complementary expertise from lithium selective advanced materials development (IIT Madras) to hollow fiber membrane development and scale up (CSMCRI). The success of this project will offer a pathway to sustainable extraction and recovery of lithium from seawater.