Jun 6, 2024
Reclaimed Minerals, Extracting Lithium + Iodine w/ Dr. Nick Sakharav
AZ TRT S05 EP22 (237) 6-2-2024
What We Learned This Week:
Guest: Dr. Nick Sakharov
LKIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nsakharov
Reclaimed Minerals - http://www.reclaimedminerals.com/
Dr. Nick Sakharov, a leading expert in critical minerals extraction (lithium and iodine), hydrogen energy, and saltwater treatment.
He is a passionate advocate for a sustainable future, who believes these areas hold immense potential to address crucial challenges facing the USA.
Expertise:
With over 25 years of experience in global economy, energy, sustainability, mineral mining, a proven track record of strategy
Critical Element Extraction: extensive experience in extracting critical minerals like lithium and iodine, vital for clean energy technologies.
Hydrogen Energy: the development of hydrogen as a clean and efficient alternative energy storage source (and why it is not a fuel source).
Saltwater Treatment: Innovative saltwater treatment methods offer solutions to water scarcity and environmental concerns.
Global Economy and Everyday Life: how these scientific breakthroughs, like clean energy and water solutions, affect things we care about in our daily lives, such as jobs, energy costs, and even the price of everyday products.
Notes:
Nick has a PhD in economics, studies, new technology and strategy. He worked for 10 years in the telecom industry, and then 15 years in energy generation. The last 12 years he’s been in the US working in chemicals.
He is based out of Houston, Texas building an iodine and lithium production company - working on chemical extraction from oil waste water. Chemicals they will work on are iodine, lithium, high, hydrogen, bromine. Nick believes blue hydrogen will be the fuel of tomorrow.
Nick is working on getting investors to help purchase and refurbish a former Japanese iodine plant in Oklahoma. Potentially could be on line in under one year.
Seg 1
Oil companies extract oil and saltwater from the ground in normal production. Then they discard the water and any leftover minerals like iodine or lithium.
Iodine is used in the medical industry and also electronics and mattresses.
Lithium is used in the energy industry, mainly in batteries for electronic devices, like cell phones or EV cars, or regular batteries. Chemical lithium is responsible for faster, charging and more capacity and batteries. Nick believes lithium will be replaced as the main mineral in 10 to 15 years. There’s lots of lithium available in the world, but you do need to mine it.
Lithium batteries for EV cars are very heavy, and takes a long time to charge. The range of the EV battery depends specifically on how heavy the battery is. During the winter, EV battery is less efficient and could lose as much as half of the charge.
Lithium batteries for cell phones are not that big of an issue, as typically the batteries were replaced every two years.
Elon Musk of Tesla is building a lithium factory.
Seg 2
Hard to tell what will replace lithium in the future. Currently, companies are testing 10 to 15 different ideas. He also believes they’ll be different organic materials, which will be used in batteries in the future for a handheld for smaller devices.
Nick believes that with the EV and auto industry in the future, there is a renewed interest in hydrogen liquid gas. Electric vehicles would have both motor - an electric motor and Hydro gas fuel part. There would be a minor and smaller battery for storage.
Major shift, EV vehicles find electrical outlets in the grid and the build out is difficult. Hydrogen gas would need new gas station refueling set up. Current gas stations cannot do it.
It’s easier and cheaper to deliver hydrogen gas to rural areas. You would bring it in with the truck. Cannot use current gas infrastructure for hydrogen fuel as it has a different molecular make up.
Per Nick, blue hydrogen, could be the energy of the future for storage for energy and power. Remains to be seen, if it would be used for cars. Currently states like Oklahoma have less energy usage versus consumption. Meaning they make more energy than they use.
You have things like brown hydrogen, which could also be used in generation, and cheaper with water and store it better than windmills. Nuclear facilities that are government regulated, use a special iodine. Cities and states need to store energy better.
Energy and hydrogen is a great option when consumption is low. Use the electricity, pull the hydrogen out, put, the oxygen back in the atmosphere. You have hydrogenation even in your house in the future. People are skeptical because hydrogen is a gas, but hydrogen is safe.
Seg 3
Hydrogen and cities could work resources better and store more energy. Could help to produce more electricity and cheaper. Toyota already has a hydrogen car. Infrastructure for hydrogen being invested in now - over the next 10 years by federal government with a grant of $5 billion.
Iodine is used in healthcare. There is major competition with China. China has a stronger hold on iodine producing. They bought a large quantity of a Chilean company that produces iodine and tried to corner the market.
China wants to dominate iodine production in the pharmaceutical industry, producing it in China. US currently imports 5000 tons of iodine a year with costs risen tri-fold the last few years.
United States and Oklahoma State in particular has storage potential for iodine. Get iodine production in the US, produce locally in the US. The price jump of 3X the last few years. Costing $75,000 per ton now, vs $25,000 per ton a few years ago.
Lots of medical development and drug development, and in the process they use iodine. Iodine research has potential for cancer cure and we don’t want to rely on China.
Can also clean up the saltwater with iodine. For example, in Texas the drinking water has issues and can be cleaned out of processed water.
Iodine is an element to take out of water. Clean the water and get the profit by selling the iodine. Freshwater then becomes the byproduct. This would help farming and the oil and gas industry with more portable water.
Bromine is another byproduct of this cleaning extraction and it’s cheap. A bonus in the same water extraction. Bromine is 1/8 the cost of iodine. Broine is used in the chemical industry.
Nick is trying to rebuild a Japanese iodine plan in Oklahoma. He needs investors. It could be in production in under a year. You retrofit the older iodine Japanese plant in Oklahoma.
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