June 5, 2026
Rethinking how lithium is extracted from hard rock
Gizmodo and Singularity Hub examine work from MIT DMSE researchers on a recyclable chemical approach to extracting lithium from hard rock, a material currently produced in only a few countries.
Categories:
In the Media, Energy and the Environment
Yet-Ming Chiang and other MIT DMSE researchers are developing a low-temperature, recyclable process to extract lithium from hard rock.
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Lithium powers the modern world—from smartphones to electric vehicles—but most of the global supply comes from just a few countries, and current extraction methods can be energy- and water-intensive.
Yet-Ming Chiang and other researchers at MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering are exploring a different approach: a low-temperature, recyclable process that can pull lithium out of hard rock using chemistry similar to glass etching compounds—work recently featured in MIT News.
As reported by Singularity Hub and Gizmodo, the approach could help diversify where lithium comes from while reducing the environmental cost of producing it.
Read more on Singularity Hub and Gizmodo.
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