PhD Studentship: Next-Gen Bio-Integrated Lithium Recovery from Clay. Department of Ecology and Conservation, UQ-Exeter Institute PhD Studentship (Funded) for January 2027 Entry

Project Description

The global transition toward a net-zero economy requires secure and sustainable supplies of critical minerals, with lithium forming the backbone of electric-vehicle batteries and grid-scale energy storage. Although most lithium is currently produced from brines, clay-hosted deposits represent one of the largest undeveloped global resources. However, existing extraction technologies for clays rely on high-temperature roasting followed by aggressive acid leaching, processes that are energy-intensive, generate substantial chemical waste, and produce significant carbon emissions. A further bottleneck is the “Mg/Li challenge”: the close chemical similarity between lithium and competing ions, particularly magnesium, severely limits the selectivity and efficiency of conventional extraction materials. Addressing these challenges requires fundamentally new approaches that integrate mineral liberation, molecular recognition, and process engineering. 

This PhD project contributes to the development of a Bio-Integrated Liberation and Extraction (BILE) platform that combines electrochemical activation of lithium-bearing clays with biologically derived extraction systems. Within this broader collaborative framework, the candidate will lead the discovery, engineering, and deployment of lithium-binding proteins and peptides as highly selective biochelators for lithium recovery from complex leachates, while leveraging complementary expertise across the Universities of Exeter and Queensland and the Global Bioeconomy Alliance to integrate upstream liberation and downstream process development. 

The central research objective is to identify and optimise biomolecular recognition systems capable of achieving Ångström-scale selectivity for lithium in the presence of high concentrations of competing ions. Using metagenomic sequencing of microbial communities from lithium-rich environments, including samples provided by industry partners (Cornish Lithium, Llamara), the student will mine environmental sequence datasets to discover novel metal-binding scaffolds. Promising candidates will be expressed, purified, and systematically characterised to determine affinity, selectivity, kinetics, and stability under relevant process conditions. Rational mutagenesis and computational protein design will then be applied to enhance lithium specificity and operational robustness in complex, high-impurity leachates. 

In parallel, the candidate will develop immobilisation strategies that enable the deployment of optimised lithium-binding proteins and peptides in scalable extraction systems. Biomolecules will be incorporated into engineered matrices such as hydrogel-based biobeads or nanocellulose fibres to create reusable adsorption platforms suitable for continuous-flow operation. These systems will be evaluated in collaboration with process engineers (Adrian Oehmen, Nasim Amiralian, both UQ) to determine adsorption capacity, regeneration efficiency, and long-term stability, generating the performance data required for preliminary techno-economic assessment and integration into prototype direct-lithium-extraction workflows. The project will interface with complementary research on electrochemical clay activation (Bernardino Virdis, also UQ) to ensure that biomolecular capture technologies are compatible with upstream liberation processes. 

By combining environmental microbiology, protein engineering, materials science, and process engineering, this research will establish a new class of biologically derived extraction materials that move beyond traditional inorganic sorbents. Expected outcomes include the discovery of previously uncharacterised lithium-binding biomolecules, quantitative insight into the molecular determinants of lithium selectivity, and validated immobilised systems suitable for pilot-scale testing. Collectively, these advances will contribute to the development of low-carbon, highly selective lithium extraction technologies and strengthen the capability of Australia and the UK in sustainable downstream mineral processing.  

Contact

Questions about this project should be directed to Dr Elze Hesse at E.Hesse@exeter.ac.uk

Advert information