alkaLi, a spin-out of water treatment company Gradiant, said Nov. 12 its EC2 technology demonstrated a groundbreaking 97% lithium recovery rate from salar brines in North America.

alkaLi’s EC2 technology is an all-in-one solution to extract, concentrate and convert battery-grade lithium to meet the accelerating energy demand, the company said.

Testing showed that the EC2 is expected to deliver at least 95% lithium recovery, even with high chemical oxygen demand content. Additionally, Gradiant’s counterflow reverse osmosis technology was able to concentrate lithium to battery-grade levels above 200,000 mg/L.

Beyond lithium, alkaLi said its elemental technology approach adapts the EC2 technology stack to recover a wide range of critical minerals, including copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, magnesium and iron.

, alkaLi plans to commission, in late November, a custom solution with a global mining company in Western Australia, focusing on nickel and cobalt recovery from mine wastewater.

At another site in Southeast Asia, EC2 is already converting mine wastewater into high-value industrial-grade magnesium sulfate, alkaLi said.

alkaLi EC2
alkaLi’s EC2 modular three-stage containerized system to extract, concentrate and convert (Source: Business Wire)
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