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With the accelerated global transition to electrified transportation and increased use of electrical energy in multiple sectors, the need for storage of electrical energy in Li-ion batteries has massively increased. New sources of lithium from hard rock minerals, clay deposits, salar brines, and geothermal brines are being actively sought with increased lithium extraction plant capacity being planned, designed, and developed. Urgency now exists to significantly increase production of refined lithium chemicals of battery grade quality to meet the expected ramp-up in global demand for Li-ion batteries to supply electric vehicles and other markets. This urgent push to meet demand is driven overall by the need to reduce global CO2 gas emissions and limit rising temperatures in the earth’s atmosphere. However, despite this push, feed source chemistry and the requisite tailored processing approaches to achieve battery grade products for Li-ion batteries must first be fully measured, understood, and adequately tested, to develop viable and operable process flowsheets. Thereafter, rigorous, stage-wise engineering of a selected flowsheet still needs to be executed to provide the required engineering detail and accuracy with sufficient confidence in project timelines, and in capital and operating cost estimates. In this paper, key stages in executing front-end loading (FEL) engineering of projects are outlined and how the associated testing programs tie in. Rigorous completion of these stages is shown to be essential to adequately design and cost such lithium extraction projects to reduce operational and financial risks. A case example of a scoping study for a lithium refinery producing battery grade lithium chemicals is presented to illustrate flowsheet development, scoping level engineering, and to show some economic drivers for lithium plants. Elements from this scoping study illustrate important risks in developing lithium projects and highlight the need for adequate flowsheet development with stage-wise engineering to systematically lower the risk of process failures, design flaws, poor plant operability, and economic losses.

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Lithium from Salar Brines: Flowsheet Development, Engineering, and Economic Challenges in Project Development

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年

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  • K. J. R. Ford,
  • M. J. Brown,
  • M. Pourdasht,
  • J. W. Steyn

摘要

With the accelerated global transition to electrified transportation and increased use of electrical energy in multiple sectors, the need for storage of electrical energy in Li-ion batteries has massively increased. New sources of lithium from hard rock minerals, clay deposits, salar brines, and geothermal brines are being actively sought with increased lithium extraction plant capacity being planned, designed, and developed. Urgency now exists to significantly increase production of refined lithium chemicals of battery grade quality to meet the expected ramp-up in global demand for Li-ion batteries to supply electric vehicles and other markets. This urgent push to meet demand is driven overall by the need to reduce global CO2 gas emissions and limit rising temperatures in the earth’s atmosphere. However, despite this push, feed source chemistry and the requisite tailored processing approaches to achieve battery grade products for Li-ion batteries must first be fully measured, understood, and adequately tested, to develop viable and operable process flowsheets. Thereafter, rigorous, stage-wise engineering of a selected flowsheet still needs to be executed to provide the required engineering detail and accuracy with sufficient confidence in project timelines, and in capital and operating cost estimates. In this paper, key stages in executing front-end loading (FEL) engineering of projects are outlined and how the associated testing programs tie in. Rigorous completion of these stages is shown to be essential to adequately design and cost such lithium extraction projects to reduce operational and financial risks. A case example of a scoping study for a lithium refinery producing battery grade lithium chemicals is presented to illustrate flowsheet development, scoping level engineering, and to show some economic drivers for lithium plants. Elements from this scoping study illustrate important risks in developing lithium projects and highlight the need for adequate flowsheet development with stage-wise engineering to systematically lower the risk of process failures, design flaws, poor plant operability, and economic losses.