Vulcan has designed, built, commissioned, and is now operating a DLE Pilot Plant to demonstrate lithium extraction from live geothermal brine.
The operation is focused on demonstrating pre-treatment and DLE processes, as well the durability of the process across hundreds of cycles, which will feed into its Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
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Vulcan will use the data from the pilot plant to inform and finalise design of a larger, demonstration plant, which will also contribute information towards the DFS. Vulcan’s technology partners and internal experts have indicated key process operations will scale up to commercial scale with minimal risk from the demonstration scale.
“Getting our pilot plant up and running on live geothermal brine is a significant milestone for Vulcan,” said Vulcan MD, Francis Wedin.
“This has already started producing crucial data needed for de-risking the lithium extraction process. It took less than six months to design, build and commission the pilot plant. This aggressive timeline was enabled by the project’s technology partners and location in Germany, where access to chemical engineering expertise is unparalleled.
“This is a critical step towards our strategy of producing lithium hydroxide, using our unique Zero Carbon Lithium process, for the European battery electric vehicle market and building a combined renewable energy and chemicals business. We look forward to keeping our shareholders informed as we progress our efforts.”
Recent activities by the company :
- Appointment of German chemicals industry executive as director, former Tesla head of Battery Supply Chain as director and EU sustainable battery & CO2 policy expert as advisor
- Lithium traceability & product CO2 measurement established with Circulor
- High lithium grades, low impurities from bulk brine sampling
- Agreement with DuPont to advance Direct Lithium Extraction
- Acquisition of geothermal sub-surface development team. • US$120m placement endorses Vulcan Zero Carbon Lithium. Positive pre-feasibility Study
