Editorial: Membrane processes for extraction of valuable materials from battery and other mineral wastes

Reading the (OECD, 2060) document entitled ‘Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060’, one gets the impression that everything is going well: the human population grows to 10 billion, nations become wealthier and continue to develop rapidly, and most of society’s needs are met. To reach these goals, the Outlook predicts a rise in global materials use from 89 Gt in 2017 to 167 Gt in 2060. The forecast puts demand for metallic materials at 20 Gt. The predicted rise has some consequences, including pollution of air, aqueous, and terrestrial ecosystems. Metallic materials are essential but have been exploited for decades and consequently depleted by unsustainable mining practices and overconsumption (Xiong et al., 2023). Some metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements are needed for the construction of energy storage devices and high-performance magnets used in zero-carbon technologies (Reich and Simon, 2025). As mineral exhaustion has reached a high level, there is a need to use low-grade ores and brines, or to recycle to close the supply chains (Pramanik et al., 2020).

Several technologies are used in mineral extraction: sorption, solvent extraction, and membrane technology. Membrane technology is slowly taking the lead due to its versatility, flexibility, and low operating costs. It is particularly promising because some membrane technologies are now well established, while others are still evolving, offering potential for breakthroughs in separation. The Research Topic Membrane Processes for Extraction of Valuable Materials from Battery and Other Mineral Wastes was intended to collect papers on the application of membranes in pressure-driven, concentration-driven, and electro membrane processes for the recovery of minerals from secondary sources, such as mine tailings water, industrial wastewater, or leachates from spent batteries.

The review by Matebese et al. evaluates membrane applications for the valorization of battery and mineral waste. It discusses membranes’ failure and their long-term stability in terms of solution chemistry. The discussion, conducted in a techno-economic framework, highlights the conditions under which membrane technology becomes more cost-effective than the solvent extraction methods used to date. The review by Kim and Hallinan examines the characterization and applications of charged polymer membranes. The authors focus on membrane structure, manufacturing methods, and their impact on extracting valuable components from battery or semiconductor waste and mining tailings. They concluded that the charged polymer membrane is a driver membrane for commercial desalination. The mini-review by Troitskiy et al. summarizes studies on testing different types of lithium-selective membranes. The performance and selectivity of the developed materials were evaluated using permeate flux and selective ion separation coefficient. Such an approach is important for facilitating a search for lithium-selective membranes useful in the recovery of this element from brines and eluates of spent lithium-ion batteries.

A research paper, authored by Castro et al., presents studies on the use of commercial PFAS membranes, Nafion 115 and Aquivion E98-09S, for the separation of monovalent cations. Authors found that membrane pretreatment was not beneficial in applications requesting selective ion transport and that membrane morphology was critical for separation. The adsorption-membrane filtration hybrid process, as an alternative to the classical fixed-bed method, is discussed by Kabay et al. It integrates adsorption and membrane filtration by combining the advantages of both processes. The studies focused on the recovery of lithium from geothermal water. It was determined that by manipulating certain process parameters (permeate/feed flow rates and replacement of saturated/fresh adsorbents), the yield of separated lithium could be improved.

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Footnotes

Edited and reviewed by: Manuel Aguilar-Vega, Unidad de Materiales, Mexico