CleanTech Lithium’s DLE pilot plant produces high-quality eluate

Highlights:

• The DLE pilot plant has produced high-quality eluate with low impurities.
• The performance of the DLE process is based on the composition of the eluate achieving key metrics of:
  • A lithium grade in feed brine of 196 mg/L was concentrated to 710 mg/L in the eluate, or a 3.6 times concentration factor.
  • Lithium adsorption recovery rate of 94%.
  • Rejection rates over 99% for key contaminants calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulphate.
• A reverse osmosis unit at the DLE pilot plant is used to concentrate the eluate prior to shipment, concentrating the test batch from a lithium grade of 710 mg/L in the eluate to 2194 mg/L in the concentrated eluate.
• An initial 200 L of concentrated eluate has been sent to a third-party processor in North America for test work to set up the process plant for conversion of eluate into battery grade lithium carbonate.
• CTL will ship batches of 24 m³ of the concentrated eluate for conversion with the first batch scheduled for later this month.
• The pilot plant in Copiapó has demonstrated that it can operate at the designed capacity of concentrated eluate production sufficient for conversion to 1 t per month of battery grade lithium carbonate.
• This places CleanTech Lithium at the forefront of exploration companies in Chile and the wider sector, in its ability to make available large samples of lithium carbonate product to potential strategic and offtake partners seeking to start product qualification.

Steve Kesler, Executive Chairman of CleanTech Lithium PLC, said:

“The analysis of the eluate shows the DLE performance has exceeded our expectations, concentrating the lithium grade of the feed brine by 3.6 times while achieving high recovery rates and low impurities. The first full batch of 24 m3 of concentrated eluate is scheduled to be shipped in the coming weeks. The pilot plant has met its design capacity capable of producing 1 t of LCE per month, positioning CleanTech Lithium to produce significant quantities of lithium product samples for potential strategic partners. We are edging closer to be one of the first DLE based companies in Chile to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/14052024/cleantech-lithiums-dle-pilot-plant-produces-high-quality-eluate/