Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Lithium Mining, Extraction, and Refining Technologies: a Global Perspective

摘要: The clean energy transition requires a considerable amount of different minerals, and lithium is one of the most critical elements owing to its use in Lithium-ion batteries for various applications. This led to calling this element “White Oil”, predominately extracted from brines and hard rocks. Alternative resource types, such as hectorite and zinnwaldite, become attractive and potentially feasible due to the surging market demand and price. Importantly, each resource type shows unique mineral characteristics and requires different process technologies, resources and energy for lithium extraction and production, resulting in distinctive environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper presents a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impact of selected lithium production routes: brine (Chile), spodumene (Australia & China), hectorite (Mexico), and zinnwaldite (Germany). The cradle-to-gate LCA …