Standard Lithium says producing battery-quality lithium carbonate through OEM process

Standard Lithium has successfully completed the conversion of its Arkansas-produced lithium chloride into 99.985% pure lithium carbonate using technology available in the market, with the next step to convert this into lithium hydroxide for electric vehicle batteries, the company said March 1.

The work was completed by Veolia Water Technologies at their facility in Plainfield, Illinois, and "demonstrates that the lithium chloride intermediate product produced by Standard Lithium's industrial scale LiSTR Direct Lithium Extraction plant in Arkansas can be converted into better-than battery quality lithium carbonate using established [original equipment manufacturer] carbonation technology," Standard Lithium said in a statement.

Concentrated lithium chloride solution produced by Standard Lithium was sent to Veolia and was then converted to lithium carbonate using a conventional technology, widely used within the industry, the company said. The process includes additional concentration; chemical softening/purification; initial conversion to solid lithium carbonate; redissolution to a bicarbonate solution and final crystallization, washing and drying of battery quality lithium carbonate, Standard Lithium said.

The company previously announced Dec. 3 it had successfully completed the start-to-finish proof of concept of its modern lithium processing technology at its facility in British Columbia, Canada. In this instance, the lithium chloride solution shipped from the company's Arkansas operations was concentrated further using industry-standard reverse osmosis technology, and then converted at the Standard LIthium's SiFT Pilot Plant located in British Columbia, it said.

"We've now demonstrated that we can convert to battery quality lithium carbonate using the Company's SiFT technology; that we can get to the same end-product using established technology developed and sold by global OEMs; and now we're looking to add battery quality lithium hydroxide to the product offering," Andy Robinson, president and COO of Standard Lithium.

Demand for lithium is expected to increase exponentially in the US in the coming years, driven by growth in lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles.

Standard Lithium previously said it was targeting initial annual production of 20,900 mt of battery-quality lithium chemicals in Arkansas, representing roughly five times the current domestic production.