A new extraction technique from MIT might slash the cost and carbon footprint of lithium, crucial for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage.

Rock Zero, co-founded by climate tech pioneer Yet-Ming Chiang, uses a weak acid to dissolve silicate minerals, extracting not just lithium but also useful alumina and silica. This method could avoid the high temperatures needed in traditional processing methods, reducing both cost and emissions.

The process is simple: stir some plastic tanks at 95°C with ammonium fluoride, and voila, you have lithium carbonate, alumina, and cementitious silica. The acid can even be reused. But scaling up remains a challenge, and market volatility could impact its adoption.

Could this make electric vehicles more affordable? Absolutely. But first, Rock Zero needs to prove that their pilot plant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, works on a larger scale. Watch this space.