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Country:  Japan

From:  Asahi Evening News 26 July 1991 via STRIDE Nov. 1991

ABSORBENT EXTRACTS LITHIUM FROM SEAWATER

Institute in Shikoku and at Kobe Steel Ltd. jointly have
developed an absorbent to extract Lithium from seawater.  Lithium
is widely used in batteries for small calculators and
increasingly as a substitute coolant for air conditioners and
refrigerators in place of CFCS.  It is also used in nuclear
reactions.  Japan now imports all its Lithium.  In a recent
experiment, researchers dissolved the lithium out of a compound
containing lithium, manganese, and oxygen to create a hollow
space which absorbs lithium ions from seawater.  Both the
initially dissolved lithium and the lithium absorbed from the
seawater are recoverable.  Reportedly, by exposing 50 grams of
the absorbant to 15 tons of seawater for 10 days, about 7 grams
of lithium carbonate can be extracted at a cost equivalent to
importing the same amount of lithium.

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