The world comprises huge portions of lithium, an integral aspect in electric vehicle batteries. And although lithium is often mined from onerous rock, nearly all of the world’s lithium reserves are literally present in brine, extraordinarily salty water beneath the Earth’s floor.
Today, brine mining includes evaporating the brine in large, extravagantly coloured swimming pools over a collection of about 18 months, leaving excessive concentrations of lithium behind. It’s a easy however inefficient course of that takes up huge swaths of land and is ecologically disruptive.
As automakers around the globe battle to meet terribly formidable electric vehicle manufacturing targets, there’s rising curiosity in doing issues otherwise.
“The auto business requires a 20x enhance in lithium provide, and there is simply no method to obtain that sort of progress with standard applied sciences,” mentioned Dave Snydacker, founder and CEO of Lilac Solutions.
Lilac is considered one of plenty of corporations piloting a set of new and largely unproven applied sciences known as direct lithium extraction, or DLE, which could enhance the effectivity and reduce the adverse externalities of the brine mining course of.
Instead of concentrating lithium by evaporating brine in giant swimming pools, DLE pulls the brine instantly right into a processing unit, places it by way of a collection of chemical processes to separate the lithium, then injects it again underground. This course of produces battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide in a matter of hours, with out the necessity to transport concentrated brine to a separate processing facility.
DLE could additionally help jump-start the home lithium mining market. Today, most lithium brine mining takes place within the Salar de Atacama, an expansive salt flat in northern Chile that comprises the best high quality lithium brine on the earth. But DLE applied sciences require a lot much less land and might help unlock sources in areas the place the brine comprises much less lithium and extra impurities.
North American corporations Lilac Solutions, EnergyX and Standard Lithium are exploring lithium sources in areas comparable to Arkansas’ Smackover Formation, California’s Salton Sea and Utah’s Great Salt Lake, in addition to overseas in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile. The Chilean authorities has even introduced that every one new lithium initiatives might be required to make use of DLE technology.
“So the timing is true and ripe for this to see the sunshine of day very, very quickly,” mentioned Amit Patwardhan, CTO of EnergyX.
Direct lithium extraction firm EnergyX is constructing demonstration crops in Argentina, Chile, California, Utah and Arkansas.
EnergyX
Doing issues otherwise
In a world earlier than electric autos, conventional strategies of brine mining and onerous rock mining greater than sufficed to meet international lithium demand.
“The world did not want DLE for the final 50 years. Lithium’s major use was industrial — ceramics, glass and lubricants,” mentioned Robert Mintak, CEO of Standard Lithium.
But with demand for EVs and the lithium-ion batteries that energy them booming, now there is a provide crunch.
“Over the final 10 years, 90% of new lithium manufacturing has come from onerous rock initiatives. But onerous rock initiatives are more and more costly as we go into decrease grade sources. And should you add up all of the onerous rock initiatives, there’s simply not sufficient useful resource on the market to meet automaker objectives. It’s the brine sources which might be giant sufficient to affect the vehicle business,” Snydacker mentioned.
DLE is already getting used to some extent in each Argentina and China, the place the businesses Livent and Sunresin are implementing business tech that mixes DLE with conventional evaporation pond operations.
These corporations each depend on a technology known as adsorption, the one commercially confirmed method to DLE. In this course of, lithium molecules within the brine adhere to an adsorbant substance, eradicating them from surrounding impurities. But specialists say that stripping the lithium from the adsorbents requires a variety of contemporary water, an enormous drawback contemplating most of the world’s greatest brine sources are in arid areas.
Livent’s most up-to-date sustainability report signifies that it makes use of 71.4 metric tons of contemporary water per metric ton of lithium carbonate equal, or LCE, produced. Lilac reported that in pilot testing it makes use of between 10 and 20 metric tons of contemporary water, whereas EnergyX says it makes use of lower than 20 metric tons.
China-based Sunresin says that it recycles all of its contemporary water, and that its newer initiatives will function with out evaporation ponds.
But a bunch of different corporations are actually entering into the business, testing out various applied sciences which they declare is not going to solely get rid of evaporation ponds altogether, however enhance yields whereas reducing vitality and contemporary water necessities.
New gamers
Bay Area-based Lilac Solutions is utilizing a technology known as ion change. It’s presently piloting its tech in Argentina in partnership with Australian lithium firm Lake Resources.
“With the Lilac ion-exchange bead we have developed a ceramic materials. This ceramic selectively absorbs lithium from the brine whereas releasing a proton. Once the lithium is absorbed into the fabric, we then flush the lithium out of the bead utilizing dilute acid and that produces a lithium chloride focus which might be simply processed into battery grade chemical substances,” Snydacker defined.
Lilac Solutions is creating a direct lithium extraction facility in Argentina in partnership with Australian lithium firm Lake Resources.
Lilac Solutions
Lilac expects to have its first commercial-scale module working earlier than the top of 2024. The firm is backed by BMW and the Bill Gates-funded Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and Ford has signed a nonbinding settlement to purchase lithium from its Argentina plant.
EnergyX, which relies out of each San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Austin, Texas, makes use of a mixture of applied sciences that it will possibly tailor to the particular brine useful resource. Step one is conventional adsorption, adopted by a way referred to as “solvent extraction,” through which the concentrated brine is combined with an natural liquid. The lithium is then transferred to the natural earlier than it is stripped free and concentrated. Membrane filtration is the ultimate stage, which removes all remaining impurities.
“So you see these all these loops and synergies that come out of mixing these applied sciences. And that’s one other massive differentiator in what EnergyX does and what actually drives the price of the technology a lot decrease in comparison with anyone else,” mentioned Patwardhan.
EnergyX is constructing demonstration crops with undisclosed companions in Argentina, Arkansas, Chile, California and Utah, and is aiming to have the primary two up and working by the top of this yr. Recently, the corporate secured $50 million in funding from GM to help scale its tech.
Vancouver-based Standard Lithium additionally has massive backers. The public firm’s largest investor is Koch Industries, and it has been working an indication plant in South Arkansas for the final three years, producing lithium at a preexisting bromine plant.
The firm makes use of each ion-exchange and adsorption applied sciences, relying on the useful resource. It expects to start development on a commercial-scale DLE facility subsequent yr and is increasing into Texas as properly.
“We have a chance as we increase from Arkansas to Texas to be the biggest producing space for lithium chemical substances in North America, using in an space that is not below water stress, that has a social license to function,” mentioned Mintak.
Companies comparable to Standard Lithium, that are leaning into the U.S. market, stand to profit from the Inflation Reduction Act, which ties electric vehicle subsidies to home sourcing of battery supplies. Automakers may obtain the complete EV credit score in the event that they supply from nations which have free commerce agreements with the U.S., comparable to Chile.
While Chile has introduced that every one new lithium initiatives within the nation might be required to make use of DLE applied sciences, it has not introduced what corporations it will likely be partnering with for these new initiatives.
Neighboring Bolivia was contemplating technology from each EnergyX and Lilac Solutions to help unlock the nation’s huge however largely undeveloped lithium sources. The authorities in the end tapped a consortium of Chinese corporations, led by battery large CATL, to spearhead DLE efforts in its salt flats.
Most new lithium provide will proceed to come back from onerous rock initiatives for the remainder of this decade, Snydacker mentioned. “But by the top of this decade, we’ll see very large-scale brine initiatives coming on-line …” he predicted. “And going out into the following decade, this technology will present a majority of new provide.”
Overall, lithium manufacturing from DLE is projected to develop from about 54,000 metric tons at present to 647,500 metric tons by 2032, based on Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. That’s forecast to be price about $21.6 billion.
“But once we place it in relative phrases in opposition to the remainder of the worldwide market, that solely represents round 15% of complete provide,” mentioned James Mills, principal advisor at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. “So we’re nonetheless going to should depend on conventional types of manufacturing for the lithium models, whether or not it is evaporation ponds or onerous rock mining.”