This Texas startup is turning oil well waste into EV batteries

Oil drilling in Texas generates an incredible amount of water—which is full of precious minerals. Element3 is pulling them out to help the U.S. compete with China in the battery economy.

[Source images: Adobe Stock]

Across the Permian Basin, the vast, mineral-rich swath of land in West Texas that supplies much of the nation’s crude oil, derricks pump out massive amounts of oil, roughly 6 million barrels a day. 

But that amount pales in comparison with the amount of dirty, brackish water that’s also extracted during oil drilling. Drilling in the Permian Basin also unearths roughly 26 million barrels of water a day, about........

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