Comprehensive review of lithium extraction processes with economic and environmental analysis

The growing need for lithium, primarily driven by the expanding electric car market and increasing energy storage requirements, has created a significant demand for sustainable and efficient lithium extraction techniques. This comprehensive review examines the current state and prospects of lithium extraction technologies from both hard-rock and brine sources, offering an enviro-economic perspective on various production methods. While several reviews have attempted to cover lithium extraction in various aspects, our work specifically focuses on the processes of lithium extraction from different sources. We systematically evaluate traditional hard-rock extraction processes, including sulfating, alkali, chlorination, and carbonizing methods, detailing their mechanisms, efficiencies, and limitations. For brine-based extraction, we examine conventional solar evaporation techniques and emerging direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, including sorption, solvent extraction, and membrane-based processes. The enviro-economic section offers a comparative analysis of capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) across different extraction methods, while also examining environmental impacts through the lens of water consumption, land use, carbon emissions, and energy requirements. This review uniquely synthesizes the latest technological developments with economic considerations and environmental constraints, providing a comprehensive framework for understanding the challenges and opportunities in lithium production. • Detailed analysis of hard rock lithium extraction: sulfating, alkali, chlorination, and carbonizing routes. • Investigation of conventional solar evaporation process and its multi-stage operational mechanisms. • Exploration of DLE technologies including sorption, solvent extraction, and membrane-based methods. • Novel integrated enviro-economic analysis of CAPEX, OPEX across all extraction processes. • Systematic evaluation of water consumption, land use, carbon emissions and energy requirements.