Highlights:

• Vulcan has designed, built, commissioned and is now operating its Pilot Plant to demonstrate Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) from Upper Rhine Valley geothermal brine.
• Vulcan is using live geothermal brine from existing wells in its piloting programme for DLE and brine chemistry testwork.
• Vulcan is working with major suppliers, including DuPont, to test DLE products similar to those already used commercially in the lithium industry, on Upper Rhine Valley geothermal brine.

Drawings of planned geothermal-lithium production plant (source: Vulcan Energy Resources)

Vulcan has designed, built, commissioned, and is now operating a DLE Pilot Plant to demonstrate lithium extraction from live geothermal brine. The team is focused on demonstrating pre-treatment and DLE processes, as well the durability of the process over hundreds of cycles, which will feed into its Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).

Vulcan will use the data from the Pilot Plant to inform and finalise design of a larger, Demonstration Plant, which will also contribute information towards the DFS. Vulcan’s technology partners and internal experts have indicated that key process operations will scale up to commercial scale with minimal risk from the Demonstration scale.

Managing Director, Dr. Francis Wedin, commented: 
“Getting our Pilot Plant up and running on live geothermal brine is a significant milestone for Vulcan. This has already started producing crucial data needed for de-risking the lithium extraction process. It took less than 6 months to design, build, and commission the Pilot Plant. This aggressive timeline was enabled by the project’s world-class technology partners and location in Germany, where access to chemical engineering expertise is unparalleled. This is a critical step towards our strategy of producing lithium hydroxide, using our unique Zero Carbon Lithium™ process, for the European battery electric vehicle market, and building a combined renewable energy and chemicals business. We look forward to keeping our shareholders informed as we progress our efforts.”

KeyFacts Energy: Geothermal news