Vulcan Energy Resources (ASX:VUL) reports it has developed, tested and demonstrated its own in-house lithium extraction sorbent, VULSORB for lithium extraction.
The company says VULSORB has demonstrated ‘higher’ performance and ‘lower’ water consumption for lithium extraction in Vulcan’s pilot plant in Germany compared with commercially available sorbents tested by the company, and testwork has been carried out on live brine from Vulcan’s commercially operating geothermal renewable energy plant, Naturlich Insheim.
It reports the manufacturing process for VULSORB has been shown to be environmentally benign, with many of the reagents recycled and with opportunities for Vulcan to use it’s own produced lithium to manufacture future sorbent once in production, further reducing the company’s carbon footprint and operating costs while fulfilling the European Union’s circular economy goals.
Vulcan Energy Resources Managing Director and CEO Francis Wedlin said he congratulates the company’s lithium extraction team on successfully developing, testing and demonstrating VULSORB.
“In contrast to other developers who are increasingly using sorption in their developments but often outsourcing to external technology providers, Vulcan is uniquely positioned as both a lithium extraction technology provider, as well as a lithium chemicals and renewable energy developer.
“Until now, there has been no commercially available sorbents for lithium extraction manufactured in Europe, thus making the region dependent of foreign supply chains”
Until now, there has been no commercially available sorbents for lithium extraction manufactured in Europe, thus making the region dependent of foreign supply chains.
VULSORB will enable Europe to extract lithium from its own brine fields, without being exposed to geopolitical risks. Vulcan will assess the potential of VULSORB to be used in other lithium brines in Europe and globally, particularly with renewably-heated brines that can be used to extract lithium with net zero carbon footprint and zero fossil fuels, in line with Vulcan’s strict mandate to be carbon neutral.
The successful production of VULSORB together with the recent test results of the highest grade, lowest impurity lithium hydroxide to date from our pilot plant, complement the continued works on our contained Sorption Demonstration Plant and on our phase one definitive feasibility study (DFS), as our DFS nears conclusion in support of our target of first commercial production from our Zero Carbon Lithium Project in late 2025.”
Vulcan reports VULSORB is a variation of the type of lithium extraction sorbents developed 30 years ago and used commercially around the world for lithium extraction from brine for the last 25 years, and this Technology Readiness Level 9 approach for lithium extraction can be used in most lithium rich brines globally, provided salinity in the brine is high enough and there is sufficient heat to drive the process.
It also reports the sorbent enables the lithium to be selectively extracted from the brine, providing a ‘very pure’ lithium chloride eluate which can then be electrochemically converted to lithium hydroxide for use in lithium-ion batteries, and says this process is ‘faster’ and ‘more efficient’ with a lower carbon footprint than the legacy industry method of using large-scale evaporation and ‘large’ quantities of chemical reagents to extract the lithium and process into lithium hydroxide.
Vulcan states this process happens in hours rather than up to 18 months in the case of legacy extraction routes allowing the company to ‘quickly’ respond to the needs of its customers, and says the main constituents of these sorbents is lithium chloride illuminate which can be preheated from a geothermal reservoir further reducing the operating costs and removing the need for fossil fuels.
The company has selected VULSORB as its first choice of sorbent for lithium extraction in its planned phase one commercial development, with first commercial production of lithium targets for Q4 2025, and the company continues to test other sorbents from commercial suppliers to provide further optionality and for the potential use in future phases of development.
This is further ‘evidence’ of Vulcan’s development capabilities following the recent announcement in October of the ‘highest’ grade, ‘lowest’ impurity lithium hydroxide produced to date from its pilot plant which has been successfully operating for 19 months.
Vulcan Energy Resources is a lithium production company that founded the world’s first carbon neutral, fossil fuels business with the co-production of renewable geothermal energy on a mass scale through the company’s Zero Carbon Lithium Project located in Germany.
Other assets held by the company include the Naturlich Insheim renewable energy plant also in Germany.
Images: Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd
