Lithium, the metal used to make electric vehicle batteries, has historically been produced using water-intensive evaporation ponds or open-pit mines. But a fleet of direct lithium extraction technologies is on the verge of upending that.
Many of these DLE technologies are so far unproven without the use of evaporation ponds, sparking a race for one of them to start commercially producing the metal without those ponds.Livent operates an Argentina facility that blends evaporation ponds with DLE. It is set to merge with rival Allkem by the end of the year.Sunresin operates Chinese facilities that combine evaporation ponds with DLE.
Elsewhere, Lilac is “currently advancing engineering for commercial-scale production at multiple large projects around the world,” said CEO Dave Snydacker. BMW and Breakthrough Energy Ventures are investors.The privately-held company is developing DLE projects in South America and recently opened a new office and test center in Santiago. BHP is an investor.
E3 Lithium The company, which is developing a DLE project in Alberta with support from Exxon Mobil subsidiary Imperial Oil, aims for commercial production by 2026.The privately-held company developed a specialized version of DLE known as direct lithium to product that can extract lithium from brine and convert it to lithium hydroxide, removing a processing step. IBC said this week that its technology will be used to deliver lithium by 2025 to Panasonic and Chori.