U of A to Play Vital Role in State's Lithium Economy

Lithium batteries power our cellphones, laptops and hybrid cars. Today, most lithium is mined in South America, but the newly discovered Smackover Formation in southwest Arkansas contains 5 to 19 million tons of lithium, enough to meet the world's estimated 2030 demand for lithium nine times over.  

The future of lithium extraction and its economic impact on the state of Arkansas was at the forefront of the second annual Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit held in late October. Thegathering brought together researchers, state leaders and industry representatives as they began to map out the next steps of the potential boom. 

"The first summit was about the promise, and this one was about the progress," said Erik Pollock, director of the U of A's Stable Isotope Laboratory and co-founder of the Arkansas Lithium Technology Accelerator. 

Commercial extraction of lithium in Arkansas is scheduled to begin next year. 

"We want to build out the conversion, the refining and the manufacturing all right here where this valuable resource sits," said Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the keynote address to the summit. "And with your help, we know that Arkansas will be a leader and an innovator in the global lithium market and help put this industry on the map for the United States." 

The two-day event in Little Rock was attended by nearly 900 people, including more than two dozen U of A professors, staff, students and alumni. 

"Arkansas is uniquely positioned in the intersection of geology, innovation and proactive governance. We have a world-class resource in this Smackover Formation, pioneering DLE technology to extract it sustainably, global corporations committed to invest and the legislative will to build the upstream and midstream supply chain right here in the state," said Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald, whose office helped organize and plan the summit. 

Presenters at the summit included U of A faculty Christopher L. Liner and John Shaw, both from the Department of Geosciences, along with Jamie Hestekin of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Xiangbo "Henry" Meng of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. 

The U of A has four areas of expertise that can support the burgeoning lithium industry, Pollock said. The school's geoscientists can help industry understand both what is below the ground and the hydrologic component necessary for surface waterworks. As a leader in supply chain management, the Sam M. Walton College of Business can provide logistics support. The U of A has deep expertise in material science and novel materials. And engineers are working on separation science involving solvents and membranes. 

"We have a way of doing lithium. We probably will have a better way of doing lithium in the near future," Pollock said. 

The U of A can also provide the workforce the state needs to develop and oversee lithium extraction. 

"There's going to be a workforce that will develop down there," Pollock said. "It's going to take a lot of people who can think. And 35,000 of the college students in Arkansas are right here." 

To learn more about how the U of A is uniquely positioned to partner with businesses and offer solutions in the emerging lithium economy, visit lithium.uark.edu.