Innovative Lithium Extraction
Water innovation for the global energy transition.
To reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, we need lightweight, rechargeable power. Lithium holds the key.
By 2030, it is predicted that electric vehicles (EVs) will account for 60% of new vehicle sales, globally. By the same year, worldwide demand for lithium, required for the lithium-ion batteries used in almost every EV, will reach over 3-million metric tonnes.
Traditional lithium extraction wastes vast quantities of water, diverting it from local communities and ecosystems. There is a better way.
In Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, the evaporation of expansive brine ponds is one of the primary ways the world currently extracts lithium. During the process, huge volumes of freshwater are lost to evaporation, further depleting the already-diminishing aquifers relied upon by surrounding communities.
Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) removes high quality lithium from saline aquifers, without evaporation, in just 24 hrs. DLE has the potential to not only significantly increase the supply of lithium for EVs but also to make the process dramatically greener and more sustainable.
When paired with DLE, Ionic Solutions’ technology reduces water & energy consumption while increasing freshwater recovery.
Ionic Solutions patented desalination technology can concentrate lithium rich brines over 20X to increase the amount of water reuse, reduce requirements for evaporators, reduce electricity demand, and virtually eliminate process wastewaters compared to reverse osmosis. Our technology helps to ensure every step of the process follows a use less, recover more philosophy.
When the lithium has been extracted, spent brine is reinjected back into the salar, keeping it out of brine ponds and the associated environmental consequences that come with them.
Doing more, with less energy.
Our patented technology not only enables DLE to have the lowest possible water footprint, it also lowers the carbon footprint of the process by using incredibly low amounts of electrical energy.
In order to extract the maximum amount of lithium from the brine, high concentrations are needed that often require energy hungry evaporators. Because Ionic Solutions’ technology can reach higher concentrations, using less energy than reverse osmosis, the need for evaporators is either reduced or eliminated altogether. This makes the overall plant-scale energy consumption dramatically lower than with conventional methods.
