Battery material development company Standard Lithium has begun the commissioning phase of its industrial-scale lithium carbonate crystallisation pilot plant in Canada.
The plant will produce material used by manufacturers in the lithium-ion battery supply chain from lithium chloride solution produced through its LiSTR direct lithium extraction process.
The LiSTR demonstration plant in Arkansas, US, began operations last month. It is designed to continuously process an input tail brine flow of 50 gallons per minute (or 11.4m3/hr)— the equivalent of between 100-150 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate.
The lithium carbonate crystallisation plant has been designed around the company’s proprietary ‘SiFT’ crystallisation technology, which produces >99.9% purity lithium carbonate.
Dr. Andy Robinson, president and COO of Standard Lithium, said: “Our plan over the coming months has necessarily been adapted to fit the current trans-border situation between Canada and the USA.
“As we are able to freely transport large volumes of lithium chloride product from our operational demo plant in Arkansas up to Vancouver, once commissioning is completed we will initially test and run the SiFT plant using this feedstock, thus demonstrating the total lithium extraction and crystallisation flowsheet that we have developed.
“Once trans-border movement of staff and equipment is relaxed, hopefully in the not too distant future, then we will transport the modules and integrate this SiFT Crystallisation Plant in to our 24/7 operations in Arkansas.”
