Skip to main content

Schlumberger New Energy venture to launch lithium extraction plant

Published by , Editor
Global Mining Review,


Schlumberger New Energy has announced the development of a lithium extraction pilot plant through its new venture, NeoLith Energy.

Schlumberger New Energy venture to launch lithium extraction plant

The deployment of the pilot plant will be in Clayton Valley, Nevada, USA. The NeoLith Energy sustainable approach uses a differentiated direct lithium extraction (DLE) process to enable the production of high-purity, battery-grade lithium material while reducing the production time from over a year to weeks. This innovative process can create new market opportunities for lithium extraction and battery manufacturing economy, and maximise the value of the lithium-rich resource base in Nevada with cutting-edge extraction technology.

The demand for battery-grade lithium is projected to grow exponentially, driven by growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market. As EVs greatly depend on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, sustainable and efficient lithium production has become an important topic for regions, industries and technology companies, as well as battery and large automotive manufacturers. NeoLith Energy’s pilot plant is a step towards a full scale, commercial lithium production facility. The pilot plant results will be used to optimise the design of the full scale production plant. The production plant will utilise an environmentally friendly method for subsurface brine extraction and lithium production that requires a significantly smaller footprint and reduces water consumption by over 85% compared to current methods for lithium extraction from brine.

“Nevada lithium resources present an excellent opportunity to demonstrate a leap in production efficiency with a more sustainable approach,” said Ashok Belani, Schlumberger New Energy executive vice president. “Schlumberger’s expertise in the subsurface domain, development of process technology, and global deployment of technology at scale with various partners all play an important role in the innovation and efficiency of our DLE process. We are accelerating the deployment of our pilot plant in response to the high market demand for battery-grade lithium material.”

The pilot plant’s deployment is part of the Pure Energy Minerals agreement with Schlumberger New Energy for the development of its Nevada lithium brine property, using advanced technology to process the brine and extract high-purity lithium, maximising the lithium resource recovery. Commissioning of the pilot plant will begin following receipt of all necessary permits. NeoLith Energy intends to begin operations before the end of 2021.

Schlumberger New Energy has invested more than US$15 million in this DLE process, and expects the development and operation of the pilot plant in Nevada to require a similar amount of investment. This innovative and sustainable DLE process has the potential to disrupt the lithium economy by opening new opportunities to existing production regions, and enabling new lithium production regions across the globe to meet the growing demand.

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/22032021/schlumberger-new-energy-venture-to-launch-lithium-extraction-plant/

You might also like

EMI

Electrification in Mining virtual conference

Join us on 16 April 2024 for Global Mining Review's first Electrification in Mining event is an interactive virtual conference, focusing on electrification as the future of sustainable mining and exploring the innovative approaches and technologies being developed to facilitate its implementation.

Register for FREE »

 
 
 

Embed article link: (copy the HTML code below):


 

This article has been tagged under the following:

US mining news Lithium mining news