Lithium is a key component of rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicle manufacturing, as well as larger-scale battery storage and other electronics that are becoming increasingly demanded around the world. Global lithium carbonate prices have surged to a new high in the first month of 2022, amid continuously increasing global demand from lithium-ion battery manufacturers, especially for electric vehicles.

Adsorbent tower for direct lithium extraction by industrialized adsorption method

There are around 88.51 million tonnes of identified lithium reserves globally, top six countries with the largest lithium reserves in the world are Bolivia 25%, Chile 23%, Argentina 11%, the United States 9%, Australia 7% and China 6%.

So did the Lithium Triangle in South America, who holds 59% of global lithium reserves become the world’s largest producer by advantage of its reserves? This is not the case in current reality. In 2021, the largest producer was Australia with 42% of global lithium production. Among global lithium producers, it is not just reserves, but also technology and processing level which determine who is the winner.

Pursuing in Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) since 1990, Fusion Enertech Development Company Limited’s core research and development technology team, which consists of top Chinese, Russian and European scientists, has been pioneering the world’s top DLE technology for 32 years. Fusion Enertech is the world’s first and only implementer who has successfully industrialized an actual production of high purity lithium carbonate to 30,000 tons per annum in Qarhan, China’s largest salt flat. After decades of exploration, optimization and continuous investment, Fusion Enertech has broken through the lithium extraction technology from brine with high magnesium-to-lithium ratio and low lithium content, and made Qinghai of China the region with most significant progress in DLE technology in the world.

Conventional lithium extraction starts from pumping underground brines into evaporation ponds on the surface of salt flat, wait for 9 to 18 months letting solar evaporation reduces the liquid water and then recovers about 40% of lithium.

In response to environmental protection such as global warming, energy-saving, and carbon emission reduction, Fusion Enertech’s new format of Direct Lithium Extraction uses a clean process that involves injecting brine water into the patented adsorption tower which contains a highly selective aluminum hydroxide based organic absorbent called Lithium-ion Enrichment Material (LiEM) to extract lithium within few hours, the solution extracted is purified and concentrated to yield high-grade lithium with 95% of recovery. Scaled industrial production of Fusion Enertech has shown that lithium concentrations to 80,000 mg/L lithium can be produced from brines of ~500 mg/L lithium in 6 hours. Finally, the treated brine returns to the salt flat with zero-pollution.

Li-ion adsorbent with good lithium selectivity, recyclability and low production cost are the keys to the success of DLE. Due to the high selectivity and memory effect of LiEM, lithium can be better separated from other impurities. This high efficient process lowers 20% of conventional cost, does not use any chemical reagents, and does not need to excavate the huge evaporation ponds with large-scale destruction, which protects the original ecosystem of the salt flat resources. A water control and recycling process is adopted in the whole production to save water and reduce energy consumption. Additionally, Fusion Enertech’s DLE also including a magnesium removal technology which enables processing high-purity magnesium oxide as a by-product for manufacturing metal magnesium.

Today, application of LiEM become the easiest and most environmentally friendly adsorption method, for innovative and sustainable lithium extraction processes from salt flats brines of various lithium grades and compositions around the world.

Bolivia owns more than 21 million tons of lithium reserves in the Salar de Uyuni, together with Coipasa and Pastos Grandes, it is estimated that these three salt flats contain more than half of the global lithium reserves, it is the biggest upcoming lithium resource in the world, with a potential annual production capacity of more than 100,000 tons.

Fusion Enertech’s focus in Bolivia are well known through its cooperation with of Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB). Executives have made their first investigation visit to Uyuni Salt Flats in July of 2019 and signed a memorandum of understanding for investing a lithium carbonate plant of 30,000 tons annual production capacity using their new generation of DLE technology with the highest level of support.

Founder of Fusion Enertech investigates Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia

On October 6th 2021, Fusion Enertech was selected as one of the 8 world’s key lithium enterprises for carrying out pilot DLE tests for brines of Uyuni, Coipasa and Pastos Grandes salt flats of Bolivia, to demonstrate the effectiveness of DLE technology and to make a major leap in the professional development and extraction of the valuable lithium reserves for the global market. 

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Company Name: Fusion Enertech
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Country: China
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