IS SEA SALT BATTERIES THE ALTERNATIVE TO LITHIUM ?

Your electronics could soon be powered by an ultra cheap sea salt battery. Researchers have built a new cheap battery with four times the energy storage capacity of lithium.
Constructed from sodium-sulphur – a type of molten salt that can be processed from sea water – the battery is low-cost and more environmentally friendly than existing options.  To achieve climate neutrality, the EU will require 18 times more lithium than it currently uses by 2030 and almost 60 times more by 2050.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “lithium and rare earths will soon be more important than oil and gas.”
But these metals come at a cost. Lithium extraction can result in water shortages, biodiversity loss, damage to ecosystem functions and soil degradation.
When the metal is produced using evaporation ponds, for example, it takes approximately 2.2 million litres to produce one metric tonne.
It’s also financially costly to mine at scale. This is where the sea salt battery could provide an alternative.

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