Antimony from Water, Not from Trash: Liquid-Stream Recovery by Deep-Vacuum Separation Compared with Flash Joule Heating of Flame-Retardant Plastic

Preprint comparing flash Joule heating of flame-retardant electronics plastic (Rice University, 2026) with ARBOK-Antimony, a deep-vacuum fractional separation unit that recovers antimony from liquid streams: geothermal waters, underground brines and mine drainage. 39% of world antimony goes into flame-retardant plastics; the US imports 100% of the 20,000-25,000 t it consumes per year (USD 150-200 million). ARBOK-Antimony: 20-foot container, 200 t of water per day, 0.5-0.7 kWh per tonne of water, TRL 8. Salton Sea area alone: 2,000-3,000 t of antimony per year, 3-4% of the world market; 10-50% of US consumption with geothermal hubs, mine waters and tailings.