Key facts
- China controls 85-95% of the world's refined rare earth minerals and 85-90% of mine-to-metal refining.
- Chinese refineries produce 68% of cobalt, 65% of nickel, and 60% of EV-battery-grade lithium.
- Global demand for critical minerals is expected to double or quadruple by 2040.
- A new co-flow reactor developed by PNNL can extract magnesium hydroxide from seawater.
- Seawater contains enough critical minerals to meet humanity's needs for over 50,000 years.
- Integrating the technology at California's Carlsbad desalination facility could yield over 1.16 million pounds of magnesium hydroxide daily.
The global race for critical minerals, essential for clean energy and technology sectors, is intensifying, with China holding a significant monopoly over supply chains. China currently refines 85-95% of the world's rare earth minerals and controls a substantial portion of global cobalt, nickel, and lithium production. This concentration poses a risk to global energy security, as any restriction on access or price hikes could disrupt industries and slow climate change efforts.
Demand for these minerals is projected to at least double, and potentially quadruple, by 2040, largely driven by the electric vehicle and battery storage markets. The International Energy Agency highlights that a world powered by renewables is a world hungry for critical minerals.
In response to this challenge, U.S. scientists at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have developed a novel co-flow reactor technology designed to extract high-purity magnesium hydroxide from seawater. This breakthrough could help the United States level the playing field in critical mineral supply. The technology has the potential to be expanded to extract other vital minerals, such as nickel.
Seawater is a vast reservoir of critical minerals, with even a small fraction containing enough to meet humanity's needs for tens of thousands of years. The PNNL reactor works by cycling seawater and sodium hydroxide, which react to form magnesium hydroxide. This compound is already in high demand domestically and largely imported. Analysis suggests that integrating this technology with existing desalination facilities, like the Carlsbad facility in California, could produce over 1.16 million pounds of magnesium hydroxide daily, more than tripling current U.S. daily usage from a single plant.
Chemists at PNNL emphasize the scalability of the technology, noting that seawater's consistent chemical composition worldwide allows for a single developed technology to be deployed globally. This could not only meet domestic demand but also open up future export opportunities.