E3 Lithium completes first production of commercial scale sorbent
by CM Staff
This 20 kg test run demonstrated that large scale production is possible using this equipment and positions E3 to achieve its goals.
CALGARY — E3 LITHIUM LTD., a lithium developer and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology company, oversaw the manufacturing of its first quantity of continuously produced, commercial scale sorbent, critical to the success and commercialization of its ion-exchange DLE technology.
E3 Lithium (E3) worked with a third-party equipment design and manufacturer using their in-house development equipment to produce an initial 20 kgs of E3’s proprietary sorbent in a single continuous run. Prior to producing this commercial quantity, E3’s development team produced in-house sorbent in quantities less than a kilogram to support internal test work. The goal of this commercial production was to validate the transition from small scale batch production in the lab to commercial scale continuous production, which has been achieved to successful results.
E3 has analyzed the sorbent produced from this continuous scale production equipment against the batch produced in-house and reportedly found the new product to have equal, if not better performance with rapid and high lithium recovery rates of more than 97 per cent.
This 20 kg test run demonstrated that large scale production is possible using this equipment and positions E3 to achieve its goals of:
- Having the vendor produce several tonnes of sorbent for use in E3’s field pilot project
- Designing the equipment to be implemented in the commercial processing facility as part of E3’s Clearwater Project
“We are extremely pleased with the results of our first commercial production of sorbent and its high lithium recovery rates,” said Chris Doornbos, President and CEO of E3. “This commercially-produced sorbent provides confidence in the viability of scaling up E3’s production to deliver the larger volumes of high-quality sorbent needed for commercial operations.”
