Based on previous energy analyses posted, I am sure Jed would be better suited to comment on the issue of the lithium economy and "peak lithium".
Even in lithium batteries, the lithium is not disintegrated when wearing out the battery. When a Li battery is no longer capable of operating at an acceptable capacity (usually due to in-optimum re-crystallization on recharging), the Li could be recovered the way lead is recovered in lead acid battery recycling industry today. By the time a Li based LENR technology hits the market, there could be a thousand years worth of Li for LENR that had already been mined for battery use that could just be extracted from the Li battery recycling. Of course, LENR will consume some Li, so the Li is not 100% recoverable from the fuel cartridges, but in practice, even battery recycling is not 100% efficient. I suspect the percentage of the Li consumed in LENR will be about the same as the inefficiency in Li recycling for batteries. Also, when Li is consumed in LENR on a large scale, it will be interesting to see what harvest-able materials become available as a byproduct of the reaction. Will the reaction generate copious 4He, 3He, D2, T2, Be, etc. that could be sold to pay for more Li? A new industry will develop to monetize the recycling. Bob Higgins On Mon, Jun 8, 2015 at 4:12 PM, <mix...@bigpond.com> wrote: > In reply to Lewan Mats's message of Mon, 8 Jun 2015 07:05:31 +0000: > Hi, > [snip] > >Predicted lithium shortages are leading to novel technologies for > recovering the element, now found mostly in salt lakes in South America. > > > http://www.technologyreview.com/news/538036/quest-to-mine-seawater-for-lithium-advances/ > > > >How would lithium shortages affect a Li-Ni-H based LENR process? Or the > contrary? > > I think that Li based LENR produces so much energy that it would support a > Li > price that is more than adequate to enable extraction from sea water. > > Regards, > > Robin van Spaandonk > > http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/project.html > >
