A sustainable process for extracting battery-grade lithium from geothermal brines is being advanced by Schlumberger New Energy and Panasonic Energy of North America.

The companies are collaborating to optimize the differentiated direct lithium extraction technology deployed at Schlumberger’s New Energy at its NeoLith Energy pilot plant in Nevada. The process yields battery-grade lithium material while reducing production time from over a year to weeks. A major benefit is a smaller environmental footprint relative to conventional evaporative methods of extracting lithium.

The project is expected to pump brine from the subsurface and extract greater than 90% of the dissolved lithium. More than 85% of the brine will then be injected back to the subsurface in an environmentally sound manner in a scheme with minimal reliance on external fresh water resources. The produced lithium will help meet the surging demand for materials consumed in electric vehicle battery manufacturing.