A biomimetic membrane allows lithium ion separation by electrodialysis

http://english.cas.cn/newsroom/research_news/chem/202504/t20250427_1042154.shtml

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59188-1

A research team led by Prof. GAO Jun from the CAS Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) , in collaboration with researchers from Qingdao University, has developed an innovative membrane that mimics biological ion channels to achieve highly selective lithium ion separation from complex brines. Lithium, which is essential for batteries and clean energy technologies, is often found in low concentrations alongside high levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium ions.

Inspired by biological ion channels, the team designed a sulfonic acid-functionalized covalent organic framework (COF)—r-TpPa-SO₃H. The membrane’s randomly oriented nanocrystalline structure creates ultra-narrow, winding channels that can differentiate ions based on size and hydration energy. This unique structure enables an unconventional reverse-sieving mechanism that allows the selective passage of Na⁺, K⁺, and even divalent ions like Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ under an electric field while effectively blocking hydrated Li⁺ ions.

In laboratory tests, the membrane demonstrated remarkable Na⁺/Li⁺ and K⁺/Li⁺ selectivity, comparable to that of biological ion channels. Its performance remained stable in complex solutions, including real salt-lake brines. Under electrodialysis conditions, the membrane consistently removed major interfering ions, resulting in a lithium-enriched solution ready for downstream processing.

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Sorting cells by Raman fingerprint

Nachrichten aus der Chemie (2025) 73, p. 37 – 39 (in English)

Raman article

Trans-aconitic acid from Aspergillus terreus – a new biopesticide and bio-based plasticizer

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ymben.2023.06.007

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.greenca.2023.08.001

https://www.guanhai.com.cn/p/39 4312.html

Trans-aconitic acid TAA (CAS RN 4023-65-8) is an unsaturated tricarboxylic acid that occurs in various plants. Although it exhibits broad application potential in agriculture, food, biomaterials, and green chemistry, its practical use remains limited. This is primarily because the traditional production processes of plant extraction (from sugar cane)and chemical synthesis (complex and inefficient) cannot achieve large-scale production at a low cost.

Researchers around LU Xuefeng, director of the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have now established a cell factory for the production of TAA based on a genome-edited industrial strain of Aspergillus terreus. Several rounds of metabolic engineering resulted in strains which produced 57 g/L TAA in shake flask cultures. Scale-up to tank fermentations up to 120 kL – in cooperation with Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.– then led to yields of 88 g/L after 100 hours. A simple recovery procedure combining membrane concentration and crystallization provided TAA crystals with a purity of 98.4%. Given its superior nematicidal properties, QIBEBT and Lukang Pharmaceutical are now in the process of registering TAA as a new nematicide biopesticide.

The QIBEBT team has further found that TAA esters (trans-Aconitates) can be used as plasticizers and could replace the ambiguous phthalates widely used in plastic products. Haier Blood Technology Co., a Qingdao-based company, plans to use TAA esters as plasticizers in its PVC-based blood bags and other products.

TAA ester’s wide temperature stability, from -46°C to 120°C, might also find applications in automotive cable materials as they exhibit excellent resistance to high-temperature volatilization and low-temperature brittle cracking.

In summary, biomanufacturing based on smart cells of A. terreus has provided a new material, TAA and TAA esters, which offer exciting application potentials as a biopesticide and a non-toxic bioplasticizer.

Ocean University of China in Qingdao publishes Blue Book on marine CO2 absorption

https://spc.jst.go.jp/news/250903/topic_2_03.html

A “China Blue Carbon 2025” Blue Book was released in Qingdao. The Blue Book project was led by the Marine Carbon Neutrality Center of the Ocean University of China, and had invited more than 70 experts and scholars from over 30 institutions in China and abroad to conduct joint special research.

The blue paper predicts that carbon dioxide absorption by China’s blue carbon ecosystems has been on the rise for over the past decade, reaching 500 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2035, at which point China will play a central role in global blue carbon contributions. By 2025, China’s total mangrove area will be approximately 303 square kilometers, with a total carbon storage of 6.03 million tons; seagrass beds will be approximately 265 square kilometers, with a total carbon storage of 2.3 million tons; and coastal salt marshes will be approximately 2,980 square kilometers, with a total carbon storage of 91.55 million tons.

The paper also notes that carbon absorption by shellfish and algae farming in China’s coastal waters has increased over the past 20 years. At the same time, China’s marine energy has also developed, with its offshore wind power capacity now number one in the world and its marine primary and secondary industries achieving “carbon minus” status.

According to the president of Ocean University of China, the university aims to achieve synergistic effects on the ecosystem, society, and economy by developing seagrass bed restoration technology, to building a blue carbon resource survey and calculation system, and even developing technologies to track and treat the sources of coastal pollutants.

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