Project description
Monitoring lithium contamination in coastal waters
Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion) are rechargeable power sources used in various applications. However, Li is toxic to aquatic life and its river flux to the ocean threatens marine ecosystems. Amid the ongoing energy transition, being able to monitor Li levels in coastal waters is central. Funded by the European Research Council, the SeaLi2Bio project will integrate novel isotopic methods with ecological studies to trace Li sources. Researchers will determine Li contamination by investigating the levels in plankton and its biological effects. Correlation with environmental conditions will help upscale project findings globally and establish a comprehensive global reference to address this critical environmental concern.
Objective
Lithium (Li) is key in the energy transition and massively used to produce mobile devices and electrical vehicles. Yet its current consumption rate exceeds its river flux to the ocean, and it is poorly recycled, while Li excess is toxic for aquatic life and humans. Although concentrations of Li and its isotopes have been measured in coastal waters, at river outlets, to study continental chemical weathering and climate controls, Li monitoring has been occasional. Moreover, bias caused by anthropogenic inputs is not quantified.
Combining a novel isotopic methodology with ecotoxicology and biology approaches, SeaLi2Bio will first determine and understand the littoral Li contamination sources, flux and controls, and quantify its current contribution to the Li cycle. Plankton, macroalgae and bivalves will act as long-term bioindicators at reference sites located along urbanisation gradients. The biological controls of Li isotopes will be determined by aquaculture of model organisms, over a range of representative environmental and metabolic conditions, and confronted to in situ measurements. Upscaling from regional to global scale will be achieved with a multivariate statistical model accounting for geospatial data on watershed characteristics, population density and socioeconomic parameters.
This project will also anticipate future environmental and health issues caused by Li contamination, focusing on the North Chile coast where Li levels are known as the highest, and using innovative health-monitoring tools (Cu-Zn isotopes). Finally, the evolution of Li contamination will be simulated at the continental and global scale, following scenarios of energy transition impacting differently Li demand and waste.
By disentangling the factors of Li contamination from the natural background, SeaLi2Bio will assemble a first robust reference for a global issue tied to the history of climate and its future evolution in response to reduction of fossil fuels use.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencespublic health
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryalkali metals
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistryisotope geochemistry
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsstatistics and probability
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemscoastal ecosystems
You need to log in or register to use this function
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Topic(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsHost institution
75794 Paris
France