Vulcan Energy Resources Limited (Vulcan; ASX: VUL, FSE: VUL, the Company) has successfully developed, tested and demonstrated its own in-house lithium extraction sorbent, VULSORB , for sustainable lithium extraction from the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field and the Zero Carbon Lithium Project.
Key Points
- VULSORB has demonstrated higher performance and lower water consumption for lithium extraction in Vulcan's pilot plant, compared with commercially available sorbents tested by the Company. Test-work has been carried out on live brine from Vulcan's commercially operating geothermal renewable energy plant, Natür 3 lich Insheim.
- The manufacturing process for VULSORB has been shown to be environmentally benign, with many of the reagents recycled and with opportunities for Vulcan to use its own produced lithium to manufacture future sorbent once in production, thus further reducing Vulcan's carbon footprint and operating costs while fulfilling the European Union's circular economy goals.
- VULSORB is a variation of the type of lithium extraction sorbents originally developed thirty years ago and used commercially around the world for lithium extraction from brine for the last 25 years. This Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9 approach for lithium extraction can be used in most lithium-rich brines globally, provided salinity in the brine is high enough and there is sufficient heat to drive the process, with a brine pre-treatment step to increase sorbent durability which can be adjusted depending on local brine chemistry.
- The sorbent enables the lithium to be selectively extracted from the brine, providing a very pure lithium chloride eluate which can then be electro-chemically converted to lithium hydroxide for use in lithium-ion batteries in the European cathode, battery, and automaker industries. Vulcan has binding lithium hydroxide offtake agreements with Stellantis1, Volkswagen2, Renault3, LG Energy Solution4 and Umicore5.
- This process is much faster and more efficient, with a lower carbon footprint, than the legacy industry method of using large-scale evaporation and large quantities of chemical reagents to extract the lithium and process into lithium hydroxide6. The sorbent extraction happens in hours, rather than up to 18 months7 as is the case with legacy extraction routes, allowing Vulcan to quickly respond to the needs of its customers.
1 VUL ASX Release, Vulcan Energy signs lithium supply agreement with Stellantis, 29 November 2021.
2 VUL ASX Release, Binding lithium offtake agreement with Volkswagen Group, 8 December 2021.
3 VUL ASX Release, Binding lithium offtake agreement with Renault, 22 November 2021.
4 VUL ASX Release, Binding lithium offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution, 31 January 2022.
5 VUL ASX Release, Binding lithium offtake agreement with Umicore, 18 October 2021.
6 VUL ASX release, Industry-leading Life Cycle Assessment results, 4 August 2021
7 https://www.albemarle.com/businesses/lithium/lithium-101
