In DLE, brine is pumped from underground sources, but instead of concentrating the brine by open evaporation, lithium is removed from the brine using a number of chemical and physical methods.

Reporting in Environmental Science & Technology Letters in January, the duo conducted the first thorough chemical analysis of wastewater associated with mining the lithium brine at the Salar de Uyuni.

Since the 1980s Chile has produced lithium from brine, and its Salar de Atacama is now the preeminent source of the chemical in Latin America. Chile’s government has been the most hospitable to ...