ADVERTORIAL
The Disruptive Event The Electric Vehicle Industry Has Been Waiting For…
This Smart Tech Company Is Making Direct Lithium Extraction A Reality
Editorial Feature | Mar 16, 2023
An Innovative Companies Groundbreaking Technology Offers A Rapid Solution To The Lithium Supply Crunch
Direct lithium extraction offers significant promise of increasing lithium supply, reducing the industry’s environmental, social, and governance footprint, and lowering costs. – McKinsey & Company April, 2022
Lithium miners’ holy grail has arrived.
It’s called Direct Lithium Extraction, or DLE, and it brings with it the capabilities of processing a ton of lithium carbonate in hours… not in months or years, as with today’s methods.
Now, in a much anticipated turn of events, it looks as if a small company is making this elusive goal a reality
The timing couldn’t be better, as global lithium demand gears up for a more than five-fold surge by 2030.1
And while the technology was developed by a small company… it’s been proven in the field under the watchful eyes of huge multinational customers.
That means this proof-of-concept DLE technology has the potential to find its way into hands lithium miners worldwide, ultimately transforming the lithium supply chain.
Here’s the whole story…
An Unlimited Global Market Awaits
The benefits of this advanced technology are numerous:
- The company claims its DLE process can turn lithium brine waters into lithium carbonate at a rate of one metric ton every 12 hours. But the process could be as short as six hours depending on the concentration of lithium in the brines that flow from deep underground.
- In contrast, the traditional extraction method involves huge ponds, in which briny water containing lithium slowly evaporates. That process typically takes between 18-24 months.
- They also claimed it can recover as much as 99% of the lithium trapped in brines. And researchers at McKinsey & Company agree. Touting the same 99% recovery rate for fluid/solvent methods such as the one this company has developed.2
- Traditional evaporation ponds are incredibly inefficient. Federal researchers say only about 30% of lithium is recovered with evaporation, leaving as much as 70% of the lithium behind.
- With the exception of Albemarle’s Nevada mine, lithium brines are usually found in the mountains of South American countries, that require lengthy permitting processes, and are often wrought with red tape.
- The best part is, this breakthrough extraction method can also target lithium found in the waters used to frack oil and gas wells, as well as the reservoirs associated with traditional Smackover wells.
- To offer an example of how revolutionary this concept is, a 2022 report said a Smackover prospect in Arkansas holds enough lithium to supply batteries for 50,000 electric vehicles.3
- And the technology is highly versatile, allowing for expedited processing for hard rock lithium projects as well. If hard rock lithium miners grind their raw Spodumene rock and mix it with water, DLE can quickly process that into lithium carbonate.
Ready To Roll With A Field-Tested Technology
To be clear, this company is not a lithium miner.
They make, market, and sell the DLE processors that have been the lithium sector’s long-held ambition. The units themselves have approximately the same size and appearance of an 18 wheeler’s trailer.
DLE technologies can be broadly grouped into three main categories: adsorption using porous materials that enable lithium bonding, ion exchange, and solvent extraction.
This company’s technology uses solvents and reagents, liquid-liquid separation, and a proprietary “bubbling” method to separate the lithium from the brine.
The process has passed critical tests in the field in hot zones, where the company has lent its DLE expertise to major oil companies to clean up hydraulic fracturing flowbacks and nasty emulsion spills that flowed into fresh water.
And they succeeded where major corporations, such as Siemens and Secure Energy, failed.
In all, the company has worked on 17 spills using its technology to clean up messes made by the likes of XTO, Apache Corp., Jupiter Energy, Trilogy, and Penn West.
Incredibly, their technology was capable of remediating water fouled by an oil slick, back to aquatic life criteria passing drinking water quality.
DLE Solves The Geothermal Problem
Now, here’s an interesting fact.
While the lithium supply chain is a national priority, the U.S. has only mined about 1 percent of the world’s lithium.
The majority, more than 90%, is mined Australia, Chile, Argentina, and China.
For decades, the only lithium that trickled out of the U.S. came from Albemarle’s small Nevada mine.
But the drive to electrify vehicles is only accelerating.
About 22 pounds of lithium – 10kg – is at the heart of an average EV battery pack.
By 2030, just seven years from now, forecasts suggest there will be at least 26.4 million EVs on U.S. roads.4
That’s a paltry number, though. Over the same seven years, the expectation is that there will be 350 million EVs on the road worldwide.5
The world will need 7.7 billion pounds lithium, or 3.49 million metric tons to meet that demand.
That’s a far cry from today’s demand for 500,000 metric tons.6
With this kind of shortfall at stake, it’s become increasingly clear that establishing a reliable lithium supply line is imperative.
That’s why researchers are starting to look at a little-known California lakebed, known as the Salton Sea.7
The Vast Lithium Brine Resource Trapped Under The Salton Sea
The Salton Sea has long been considered a lithium hotbed.
But until recently there was no economically or environmentally feasible way to recover the wealth of resource within its 420 trillion gallons of water.8
This new technology could change that.
That’s why, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory has zeroed in on the Salton Sea and its underground geothermal brines.
The NREL believes using DLE to tap into the Salton Sea’s underground brines could be a game-changer…
An NREL report says the average lithium supply that DLE could deliver from beneath the Salton Sea is more than 24,000 metric tons a year, or 52 million pounds.
That means DLE has the potential to deliver 10X the current U.S. lithium demand.9
The NREL published its estimate in a 2021 report with the title of “Techno-Economic Analysis of Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Brines.”10
Its author, NREL senior geoscientist, Ian Warren, wrote that the massive geothermal brines could be “developed into a robust domestic supply while adding to a well-paying workforce.11
The Salton Sea’s rich geothermal resources is already powering 11 geothermal power plants. Ten of which are owned by Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway’s renewable energy division, BHE Renewables.
Alicia Knapp, BHE’s CEO told CNBC, “We are already pumping 50,000 gallons of brine per minute across all of our 10 geothermal facilities to the surface.
“We’re using the steam from that brine to generate clean energy. So, we’re really halfway there in that we’ve got the lithium right here in our hands.”12
This new technology could simplify the recovery of this geothermal brine, making it available for EV makers across the globe.
What to do now…
Demand will likely outstrip supply for years to come. That’s why now could be the very best time to dig into your research.
Sign up with your email address to learn more about this fast-growing company and the opportunity that their Direct Lithium Extraction breakthrough presents.
1 https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/using-direct-lithium-extraction-to-secure-us-supplies.html
2 https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/metals-and-mining/our-insights/lithium-mining-how-new-production-technologies-could-fuel-the-global-ev-revolution
3 https://www.greencarcongress.com/2022/07/20220713-galvanic.html
4 https://www.eei.org/News/news/All/eei-projects-26-million-electric-vehicles-will-be-on-us-roads-in-2030
5 https://www.iea.org/reports/by-2030-evs-represent-more-than-60-of-vehicles-sold-globally-and-require-an-adequate-surge-in-chargers-installed-in-buildings
6 https://www.greenbiz.com/article/made-america-lithium-supply-chain-ev-batteries
7 https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/using-direct-lithium-extraction-to-secure-us-supplies.html
8 https://www.livescience.com/30764-salton-sea-california.html
9 https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/using-direct-lithium-extraction-to-secure-us-supplies.html
10 https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/using-direct-lithium-extraction-to-secure-us-supplies.html
11 https://www.nrel.gov/news/program/2021/using-direct-lithium-extraction-to-secure-us-supplies.html
12 https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/04/the-salton-sea-could-produce-the-worlds-greenest-lithium.html
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