Breaththrough technology cuts lithium extraction costs, boosts sustainability

A Melbourne startup has unlocked new potential to cut environmental and economic costs of lithium extraction and processing by delivering a proof of concept that produces battery grade lithium hydroxide using no water or chemicals and minimal energy.

August 15, 2024 Ev Foley

Image: ElectraLith

Melbourne-headquartered Monash University spin-off ElectraLith has proven its direct lithium extraction and refining (DLE-R) technology can produce battery grade lithium hydroxide from a range of lithium sources, such as salar brines, geothermal oilfield brines and spodumene leach, using no water, no chemicals and minimal energy.

DLE-R uses electro-membrane and electrodialysis technology to extract and produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide in a single, scalable and modular step, which is a breakaway from other DLE technologies.

Backed by United Kingdom-headquartered mining giant Rio Tinto and technology investment company IP Group, with Sydney-based Australian equities firm Monash Investment Holdings, the inventors say the DLE-R technology is emerging as the cleanest, most versatile and cost-efficient method for extracting and refining lithium.

ElectraLith has removed the need for water, chemicals and minimal energy to extract and process lithium, using its breakthrough technology.
*Image: Monash University*

ElectraLith Chief Executive Officer Charlie McGill said their research results validate the true potential of DLE-R across lithium resource type, quality and concentration.

“We’re particularly excited about the Paradox Basin Utah result, where DLE-R produced 99.9% pure lithium hydroxide from US-based Mandrake Resources’s geothermal oilfield brines without water, an increasingly scarce resource in the broader Colorado River Basin,” McGill said.

“This, coupled with the production of lithium hydroxide from a brine with less than 60 parts per million, demonstrates that DLE-R can unlock otherwise impracticable strategic reserves in the United States and Australia.”

Rio Tinto will trial and test brines with their first DLE-R prototype at their lithium Rincon Project in Argentina in 2026.

Electralith’s breakthrough lithium extraction process has potential to transform the global lithium sector, seen here by top 10 countries with the largest reserves, measured by million metric tonnes.
*Image: McKinsey and Company*

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