Science57 mOctober 9, 2026, 05:56

UK researchers develop protein membranes to separate lithium from sodium

Researchers at the University of Birmingham and Aston University are engineering S-layer protein membranes with pores of 1 to 50 ångströms to separate lithium from chemically similar sodium. The three-year project received £6.2 million from the UK's ARIA under its Universal Fabricators program.

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UK researchers develop protein membranes to separate lithium from sodium

Membrane pores of 1 to 50 ångströms target lithium-sodium separation
Project received £6.2 million from UK agency ARIA over three years
Fold9 and Adaptyv Bio will design and screen thousands of protein variants
No industrial-scale membrane or lithium recovery rates reported yet

#ARIA

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