Development of a viable route for lithium-6 supply of DEMO and future fusion power plants

A Comprehensive Review of Selected Major Categories of Lithium Isotope Separation Techniques

“…Two relatively immiscible solvents for lithium-containing compounds must be identified to create a stable system with a reasonable lithium distribution ratio between the two phases. [9,10] Furthermore, the solvation environment must be substantially modified from one phase to another, preferably a gaseous environment for one phase. However, there is unavailability of such lithium Table 1.…”

“…COLEX has the benefit of being a nonorganic working fluid that does not disintegrate and does not generate poisonous or tritiated waste. [ 9 ] As a result, the method can be used to reprocess utilized (i.e., tritiated and irradiated) blanked material. However, as prior experience has shown, this process should be improved to prevent environmental difficulties, which is quite simple to accomplish with today's technology.…”

The Upcoming 6Li Isotope Requirements Might Be Supplied by a Microalgal Enrichment Process

“…To achieve fractionation, different methods based on physicochemical approaches have been developed, such as chemical, electrochemical, displacement chromatography, and laser-based methods [ 9 ]. Most of them have been proven at a laboratory scale and are very costly in terms of scaling and energy consumption.…”

“…Furthermore, nowadays, the majority of 6 Li comes from a limited source and is produced in Oak Ridge [ 9 ], so envisioning the proximal future demand for 6 Li, the implementation of plants to obtain huge amounts of enrichment must be achieved.…”

“…For these new plants to be more sustainable, green and more efficient technologies would be required [ 9 ]. To achieve this, nature could provide us with powerful knowledge since isotopes may be naturally fractionated during different biogeochemical processes.…”