- Standard Lithium has installed a commercial-scale direct lithium extraction column at its demonstration plant in Arkansas
- The column is a LiPRO Lithium Selective Sorption unit, supplied by Koch Technology Solutions
- Looking at a weekly snapshot from early March, the LiPRO LSS DLE process achieved an average weekly lithium recovery of 95.9 per cent from the continuous incoming brine flow
- Shares of Standard Lithium last traded at C$1.68
Standard Lithium (TSXV:SLI) has installed a commercial-scale direct lithium extraction (DLE) column at its demonstration plant in Arkansas.
The column is a LiPRO Lithium Selective Sorption (LSS) unit, supplied by Koch Technology Solutions. It has been installed and integrated with the company’s existing demonstration plant to test and de-risk the design for commercial applications of the LiPRO LSS technology.
Commercial-scale DLE column installed at Standard Lithium’s demonstration plant near El Dorado, Arkansas. (Source: Standard Lithium Ltd.)
Looking at a weekly snapshot from early March, the LiPRO LSS DLE process achieved an average weekly lithium recovery of 95.9 per cent from the continuous incoming brine flow.
During that time, the DLE process rejected, on average, more than 99.3 per cent of the key contaminants sodium, calcium, magnesium and potassium from the brine (i.e. less than 0.7 per cent of those contaminants made it through the DLE into the first lithium chloride solution); and more than 94.2 per cent of boron was rejected.
“Our team has been successfully running the LiPRO LSS technology since October 2022, and we have already successfully completed scale-ups of the DLE equipment at the Demonstration Plant; this is our final stage of de-risking the technology,” Standard Lithium’s director, president and COO, Dr. Andy Robinson, said in a news release. “The data gathered from this commercial-scale unit will provide crucial validation and de-risking information for our ongoing project finance processes, as well as front end engineering design and definitive feasibility studies for the South West Arkansas Project.”
The LiPRO LSS column is being filled with Koch’s proprietary lithium-selective sorption with commissioning expected later this month. Over the ensuing months, the commercial-scale DLE technology will undergo extensive performance testing.
The lithium development company’s demonstration plant is the only large-scale, continuously operating DLE plant in North America. Initially commissioned in May 2020, the plant has processed more than 62 million litres of smackover brine.
Based out of Vancouver, Standard Lithium‘s principal operations include exploration for and development of lithium brine properties in the United States.
Shares of Standard Lithium (TSXV:SLI) last traded at C$1.68.
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