Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: Petrochemicals on 31/05/2023 23:22:37

Title: Is there enough lithium?
Post by: Petrochemicals on 31/05/2023 23:22:37

Is there enough lithium recoverable to supply 8 billion people with energy storage? Or should we wait for the aluminium batteries?

Title: Re: Is there enough lithium?
Post by: alancalverd on 01/06/2023 00:37:35

There might be, but there isn't enough electricity to charge them.

Title: Re: Is there enough lithium?
Post by: evan_au on 01/06/2023 10:16:30

Apparently, Lithium has no significant new sources in the whole universe...
- Lithium was produced in the early universe, making up 10^-9 of matter from the Big Bang
- When Lithium finds its way into the core of stars, it is rapidly fused into heavier elements (ie the amount is reducing)
- When stars fuse lighter elements, they "skip over" Lithium, so no new Lithium is being produced in stars

So, it is important to wisely use what Lithium we have (and recycle what we no longer use)...
- Lithium is great for mobile applications, due to its low density
- But for stationary power storage, other chemistries are becoming competitive, like flow batteries