The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has expanded the eligibility requirements and set new deadlines for its Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize. The Prize, funded by DOE’s Geothermal Technologies Office and administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, is designed to advance technologies that improve the economics and minimize environmental impacts of lithium extraction from geothermal brines. Participants compete in three escalating challenges to identify, develop, and test solutions for an opportunity to win a portion of the $4 million cash prize pool. REGISTER for a webinar on Monday, June 28 at 1 p.m. ET to learn more.

The blueprint lays out five critical goals and key actions to guide federal agency collaboration to secure the nation’s long-term economic competitiveness and create good-paying jobs for American workers, while supporting the Biden Administration’s decarbonization goals.
FCAB National Blueprint Lithium Batteries 0621.pdf

A race is on to produce lithium in the United States, but competing projects are taking very different approaches to extracting the vital raw material. Some might not be very green.

By binding specific ions in specially designed cages within its pores, a new membrane could enable more efficient flows in energy storage devices (an article featuring LiRRICs Brett Helms and his team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory).
 
Also read Nature’s article, Diversity-oriented synthesis of polymer membranes with ion solvation cages.