Incorporating Efficient Technologies in Lithium Production

The world is in the middle of a transition to a greener and more sustainable economy by adopting novel green technologies that significantly diminishes the emission of greenhouse gases. Noteworthy of such technologies is the use of electric motors in achieving propulsion in motor vehicles, giving rise to the evolution of electric vehicles (EVs). A key component of an electric vehicle is a lithium-based battery. There are challenges with the production of lithium-based batteries. The first is that lithium-based batteries are very expensive partly because the traditional approaches in the extraction of lithium requires the substantial use of sulphuric acids and large amounts of energy. Numerous institutions and think tanks, including Ennovi, a mobility electrification solutions company, has reported that one of the challenges to the adoption of EVs is the high upfront cost of EVs and its batteries. This is a noteworthy challenge given the dire need for an economically sustainable shift to greener solutions for global transportation technology. Secondly, the extraction of lithium damages the environment given its association with the discharge of polluting sulphates. A third challenge lies on the demand side of the market. The global supply of lithium has been predicted to surge by over 40 times by the year 2040, necessitating the deployment of efforts tailored towards expansion of industry capacity. Fortune business insights reported that the global market for lithium, which was estimated at USD 22.19 billion in the year 2023 will rise to USD 26.88  billion in the year 2024 and up to USD 134.02 billion by the year 2032. 

The batteries used in EVs can only become cheaper if there is a greater and cheaper supply of lithium among other production materials. Therefore, the need to achieve greater efficiency in the exploration and extraction of lithium is a worldwide challenge and more or less impacts on the entire set of people living in the global community as governments and political institutions such as the European Union (EU) are beginning to create a deadline for a mandatory transition to EVs within their jurisdiction.

Thus, in a nutshell, my team is aware of the the problems that confront the lithium extraction and exploration industry and seeks to develop and implement solutions that can contribute to resolving the situation.

My team aims to contribute to the global efforts in accelerating the discovery and extraction of lithium and other minerals essential to specifically, ramping up the efficient production of cheaper batteries as well as EVs, and generally, intensifying the evolution of a green economy. My team seeks to realize this goal by incorporating state-of-the-art technologies in exploration of lithium, involving the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, AI-powered drones and AI-powered software and capabilities, in the generation and interpretation of geological data respectively, thereby contributing to  improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the exploration and extraction of lithium. 

My team also seeks to apply an evolving technology in the extraction of  lithium that involves combining lithium ores, such as spodumene, petalite and lepidolite, with carbon dioxide and water under the appropriate temperature and pressure, culminating in the production of lithium carbonate. This leads to the generation of efficient but high grade lithium devoid of detrimental environmental impacts.

Our solution will potentially create new sources of lithium and or other important chemical by-products for automobile firms, manufacturers of EV batteries and producers of other renewable-energy or sustainable technological products at a lower cost and without contributing negatively to the deterioration of the environment. Our solution will also build wealth and create employment opportunities in the local communities that we will operate in.

Our venture will be based in and executed in Nigeria, before considering options of international expansion in the future. Nigeria is a promising source of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and potentially other important minerals that are fundamental to the construction of EV batteries and the greater evolution and stability of a green economy. The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency has confirmed the presence of these minerals in commercial quantities in Nigeria. Thor Explorations Ltd, a Canadian mineral exploration company confirmed the presence of commercial deposits of Lithium in the Oyo state part of Nigeria as reported by Economic Confidential, a news media in Nigeria, on August 22, 2023. Additionally, the first lithium plant in Nigeria, in the Nasarawa state part of the country, a $250 million plant owned by the Chinese company, Ganfeng Lithium, was commissioned on January 13th, 2023. 

Our team are comprised of Nigerian citizens and residents of Nigeria, who are self-motivated and equipped with a reasonable degree of technical and business expertise to get things going. The team is able to develop the business and political relationship or contacts that are fundamental to the implementation of the project that we have at hand. More so, the Nigerian government is keen to see the evolution of technological companies that are championed by Nigerians as it is beginning to understand the importance of this for the development of the country. The Cable, a Nigerian news media, reported on January 15, 2022, on the interest of the Nigerian Government to attract investors in the exploration and extraction of these minerals. 

Overall, I believe my team members are sufficiently self-motivated, adequately skilled and are willing to tap into the existing and rising favorable political support or leverage to implement our business venture.

We have built the minimum viable version of the AI-powered software that we intend to deploy in the interpretation of geological data and in our operations. We developed a prototype of how a factory, which  uses the technology of combining lithium ores with carbon dioxide and water under the right temperature and pressure, should function. Finally, my team has also reached out to relevant parties and government institutions that will issue the exploration and mining license. Therefore, once we have more capital, we can hit the ground running.

I am applying to the MIT Solve because I believe in their vision, expertise, and ability to provide the necessary partnership, the technical and advisory support, as well as some financial assistance that our firm requires to jumpstart our proposed new venture.

Traditional techniques in exploration of minerals uses human capital and existing extraction technologies in ways that are not only expensive and time consuming but also that impose substantial detrimental effects on the environment because they are associated with the release of polluting sulphates. The incorporation of AI technologies into mineral exploration is very promising and stands a chance of accelerating productivity in this area of human endeavor because it will significantly improve human capabilities and their productivity. The proposed extraction of lithium by combining it with carbon dioxide lowers cost and extraction time significantly as well as avoids the release of polluting sulphates to the environment. Additionally, this process contributes to solving the climate change crises by capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

We expect our solution to have credible impacts because we seek to adopt the least cost strategies in the production of lithium. This will help our firm to overcome some current constraints and challenges that are associated with the production of lithium, including the falling market prices that was observed in year 2023 in the face of growing supply capacity.

The impact goals of our team are to add value to the production of lithium by adopting and implementing the least cost production technologies, including the application of artificial intelligence among other unique approaches our firm will adopt. Our approach will also potentially help in curbing green house gas effects because of its ability to use carbon dioxide in the extraction of lithium. This will contribute to the global discovery, development, and diversification of highly efficient and new sources of lithium, thereby creating wealth and providing employment opportunities in the local communities in which we will operate.

There are two core technologies to be deployed in this venture, including the use of be Artificial Intelligence Technologies in the exploration of lithium and the incorporation of pollution-neutral  lithium extraction technologies. The incorporation of AI technologies into mineral exploration is very promising and stands a chance of accelerating productivity in this area of human endeavor because it will significantly improve human capabilities and their productivity. The proposed  pollution-neutral extraction of lithium, by combining lithium ores with carbon dioxide and water under the right temperature and pressure, lowers the time and costs involved in extraction significantly while avoiding the release of polluting sulphates to the environment.

Currently, we have a team of four people , with proven professional capabilities in economics and business development, computer programming, geology and mineral exploration, and chemical engineering.

We have spent about a year examining the feasibility of venture and developing the technology for our venture. 

Our venture will incorporate team members solely based on merit and their ability to contribute positively to the development and implementation of the vision of the business venture. Our venture will actively seek to include women or other minority gender such as members of the LGBT community in our activities. In the planned recruiting efforts of our company, our approach will be such that, whenever our potential employees or technical/advisory partners are equally qualified, our venture will select a woman or other minority gender for a position it seeks to fill.

Our venture is seeking to discover lithium ores such as spodumene , which exists naturally in lithium-rich pegmatite deposits,  extract lithium from the mineral ores as well as refine these minerals in a production plant, and ultimately sell the extracted lithium or lithium carbonate at profits to other businesses that will require it to make batteries or deploy it in other important engineering applications.

Our business venture is able to go further, if we receive financial grants and/ or other support from MIT Solve and/or from other sources that we may pursue in the future, including venture capital firms, venture or team resources as well as funding opportunities from well wishers, friends and family. If this is accomplished, we aim to generate some achievement milestones (for instance discover lithium deposits) and, on that basis, our team will approach other providers of venture and private equity capital in furtherance of the goals of the firm. 

If more progress is made, the our venture will seek to leverage on government growth financing opportunities that exists in Nigeria such as that provided by the Nigerian Bank of Industry.