Successful development of lithium salt precipitation process
(10 August 2022, Manchester UK) - Manchester based Watercycle Technologies Ltd (‘Watercycle’ or ‘the Company’), a pioneering critical minerals and water filtration specialist, is pleased to announce that it has developed a unique lithium salt precipitation process to complement its portfolio of high value mineral extraction technologies based on taking water in through capillary membranes, converting the minerals into usable formats, and producing water vapour as a by-product.
The Board envisages Watercycle as the first Direct Lithium Extraction (‘DLE’) and Crystallisation company in the UK to produce high-grade Lithium Carbonate Equivalent (‘LCE’) and Lithium Hydroxide (‘LiOH’) from UK brines. Notably, while the lithium chloride solution produced from the selective extraction step is concentrated, the Company’s ability to then crystallise the minerals provides a cost and time efficient end-to-end system; this is a key differentiator to Watercycle’s competitors.
Watercycle Co-founder and CEO Dr Seb Leaper said, “Our core technology spans selective mineral extraction, concentration, and crystallisation; this end-to-end solution to lithium extraction from brines places us at a distinct advantage to our competitors. The commercial opportunity to target lithium bearing brines around the world is clearly evident and we are aiming to work closely with project owners to pilot and commercialise our IP.”
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Watercycle Technologies - www.watercycletechnologies.com
Watercycle, spun out from the University of Manchester and backed by business accelerator Aer Ventures, is an innovative, sustainability-driven deep tech company focused on developing high-yield, low-cost mineral extraction, and water treatment systems. Its advanced innovative membrane distillation-crystallisation (‘MDC’) technology is capable of treating highly concentrated water and is initially being utilised in lithium production from sub surface water and brines, as well as lithium-ion spent battery recycling, particularly relevant with regards to the current global transition towards a Circular Economy. The Company is operating from the world class facilities at the Masdar Building at the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre in Manchester, enabling the team to conduct critical R&D in state-of-the-art laboratories. Watercycle has a strong ethics-based business model that delivers profitable commercial solutions that are also focused on sustainability, environmental protection, and remediation.