SLB, a global technology company, has demonstrated its scalable solution for sustainable lithium production at its plant in Clayton Valley, Nevada. This development aims to accelerate the availability of responsibly sourced lithium products.
The proprietary integrated solution combines SLB’s subsurface expertise with surface engineering of advanced technologies, including direct lithium extraction (DLE). This produces lithium 500 times faster than conventional methods using only 10% of the land. Operating at approximately one-tenth the size of a commercial-scale facility, the plant reached a verified recovery rate of 96% lithium from brine.
SLB’s integrated solution is a complete, end-to-end process that includes advanced impurity treatment and concentration technologies to produce high-purity lithium carbonate or hydroxide. The solution also uses significantly less water, energy, and chemical reagents compared to other DLE-based offerings.
“Lithium is a key enabler of electrification, so we must find ways to accelerate its production without adversely affecting the environment,” said Gavin Rennick, president of SLB’s New Energy business. “SLB’s demonstration plant in Clayton Valley proves our unique integrated approach to produce scalable quantities of lithium in the fastest, most economical and sustainable way for today’s market. This accelerates deployment of viable commercial-scale facilities for high-quality lithium products that are the backbone of our electrification economy.”
The conventional alternative for producing lithium from brine at scale is evaporation, a process that not only requires a significant amount of land but also results in significant water loss. Furthermore, salt, underground minerals, and used chemicals are left at the surface, impacting biodiversity and the environment. SLB’s lithium production solution enhances sustainability by reducing water use and returning the spent brine, or the brine with a reduced lithium concentration, back to its source after the lithium is processed and separated.
The entire SLB solution, from extracting lithium from brine to converting it to technical-grade lithium carbonate, takes just hours. By comparison, evaporation methods can take up to 18 months and have a much lower recovery rate at 50 percent or less.
Lithium is sold commercially as lithium chloride and is used as a feedstock for producing lithium metal, lithium carbonate (used in smartphones and short-range EVs) and lithium hydroxide (used in long-range EV batteries). SLB’s solution is highly flexible and can be adjusted to produce any of these products.
In proving this solution at its pilot plant, SLB is able to fully qualify under the earn-in agreement with Pure Energy Minerals and, at its option, may acquire 100% ownership interest in the Clayton Valley Project.
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Filed Under: Batteries, Technology News