A team of researchers have produced a device that extracts lithium from seawater. As well as desalinating the water, it can reportedly produce both hydrogen and chlorine gas.

The team at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) have developed a process that is centred on an electrochemical cell according to an article on KAUST’s website.

In a recent test, seawater from the Red Sea was fed into a central feed chamber within the system. It was then filtered via a ceramic membrane made out of lithium lanthanum titanium oxide (LLTO). This contains small holes that enabled positive lithium ions in the water to pass through into a side compartment, whilst the larger metal ions were blocked. 

Hydrogen and chlorine gases were generated thanks to the cathode and anode compartments of the device respectively. 

In the future, the team hope to produce the system’s ceramic membrane on a larger scale with companies within the glass industry, as well as making performance enhancements to the device overall.

“We will continue optimising the membrane structure and cell design to improve the process efficiency,” said Zhiping Lai, group leader of the study.