Clear-LiTM TECHNOLOGY
An electrochemical solution for lithium refining
Clear-LiTM is a patented electrochemical process for refining lithium sulfate and lithium chloride extracted from raw lithium feedstocks into battery-grade lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate.
Whereas incumbent lithium refining processes rely heavily on chemical and energy inputs, Clear-Li uses electricity to produce battery-grade lithium. This yields a highly pure product at a lower cost and with less energy expenditure and smaller carbon footprint.
What is electrochemical lithium refining?
Mangrove’s Clear-LiTM electrochemical lithium refining technology uses an electrolysis process. This means we take lithium chloride from brines and DLE, and lithium sulfate from rock and clay deposits and use electricity to split these compounds and transform them into a highly pure lithium hydroxide. In the case of lithium chloride, hydrochloric acid is created as a byproduct. With lithium sulfate, sulfuric acid is produced as a byproduct. In both instances, these acids can be recycled for use in the lithium processing stage prior to refining.
Why Mangrove’s Clear-Li TM technology is a more sustainable solution for lithium refining than incumbent processes.
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Purity:
By using an electrochemical process to refine lithium, Mangrove’s Clear-LiTM technology is able to produce a highly pure lithium hydroxide. Not only is the product very pure, but Mangrove is able to tailor the purity of it’s product to meet specific customer specifications. -
No waste byproducts:
With incumbent refining technologies that have been traditionally used to refine lithium sulfate into lithium hydroxide, sodium sulfate is a resultant waste byproduct. With no wide commercial application or market, sodium sulfate caries a burden of disposal and an added cost. Mangrove creates no sodium sulfate and no other waste byproducts. -
Refines lithium in fewer steps:
With incumbent lithium refining technologies that have traditionally refined lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide, an intermediate refining step had to have taken place where lithium chloride was first converted into lithium carbonate. Mangrove is able to directly convert lithium chloride into lithium hydroxide with no intermediate step, reducing OPEX/CAPEX for lithium producers. This is especially important since the world’s largest lithium reserves exist as brines (lithium chloride). -
Recycle byproducts in processing stage:
As mentioned above, Mangrove does not create any waste byproducts with it’s lithium refining process. The only byproducts that are created are hydrochloric acid when transforming lithium chloride (from brines) to lithium hydroxide, and sulfuric acid when transforming lithium sulfate (from hard rocks/clays) into lithium hydroxide. Both of these acids can be recycled in the lithium processing step prior to refining. This reduce a consumable cost for lithium producers. -
Feedstock flexible:
Mangrove’s Clear-LiTM electrochemical refining technology is feedstock flexible. This means Mangrove can produce a battery-grade lithium hydroxide from either lithium chloride or lithium sulfate from various feedstocks within the same system. -
Lower energy consumption:
Because Clear-LiTM uses electricity at the core of it’s technology, the energy consumption to convert lithium chloride and lithium sulfate into. Battery-grade lithium hydroxide is much lower than incumbent processes. This comes as a benefit to the customer with cost savings in energy expenditure. This also lowers the carbon footprint of the battery value chain, and depending on the location of refining. -
No chemical inputs:
Aside from large amounts of energy, incumbent lithium refining also relies on large amounts of chemical inputs to render lithium hydroxide from extracted lithium. Mangrove’s Clear-LiTM replaces the need for chemicals with electricity. This electrochemical process eliminates the cost of consumable chemicals for our customers and eliminates contaminating the final product with unwanted chemicals.
The lithium battery-value chain:
Where lithium refining fits in
