Gradiant’s alkaLi Sets New Standards in Direct Lithium Extraction
Gradiant’s spin-out, alkaLi, is leading the direct lithium extraction (DLE) and production market with its EC2 technology, which has demonstrated a groundbreaking 97% lithium recovery rate from salar brines in North America. The new technology is guaranteed by Gradiant to deliver at least 95% lithium recovery at customer sites, empowering industries to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate faster, cheaper, and more sustainably than ever.
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alkaLi’s EC2 modular three-stage containerized system for Extract, Concentrate, and Convert (Graphic: Business Wire)
The World’s Most Efficient Lithium Solution. alkaLi’s EC2 technology is the first and only all-in-one solution engineered to Extract, Concentrate, and Convert battery-grade lithium to meet the accelerating demand from EVs, energy storage, and electronics. Producers now benefit from:
- Reduced Costs with 50% lower OPEX and CAPEX costs
- Industry-Leading Sustainability with minimized carbon and water footprints
- Accelerated Production now measured in hours, not months
- Compact Footprint in the form of rapidly deployable mobile 20- or 40-foot containers
- Expedited Permitting with product water in discharge compliance and ready for re-injection
alkaLi has already proven EC2’s Concentrate process for a leading US energy company at a commercial site in Clayton Valley, Nevada, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the foundational CFRO technology to concentrate lithium to battery-grade quality.
Breakthrough Performance. Demonstration testing of EC2’s three stages using salar brine feedwater confirms:
- Extract: Over 95% DLE efficiency, even with high COD content
- Concentrate: CFRO technology concentrates lithium to battery-grade levels above 200,000 mg/L
- Convert: Precipitates highly concentrated lithium into a solid to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide
Beyond Lithium. alkaLi’s Elemental Technology approach adapts the EC2 technology stack to recover a wide range of other critical minerals, including copper, nickel, cobalt, manganese, magnesium, and iron.
Later this month, alkaLi will commission a custom solution with a global mining leader in Western Australia, focusing on nickel and cobalt recovery from mine wastewater. Enhanced with Gradiant's Selective Chemical Extraction technology, the solution purifies feedwater, readying it for CFRO - a breakthrough system that outperforms any commercially available RO processes, delivering a concentrated 300,000 mg/L product with minimal energy use.
Once deployed, alkaLi will transform tailing ponds from environmental liabilities into valuable mineral sources, offering a sustainable path to meet global mineral demand. At another site in Southeast Asia, the EC2 technology is already converting mine wastewater into high-value industrial-grade magnesium sulfate.
"alkaLi's modular approach to engineering the EC2 technology stack continues a Gradiant philosophy of maximizing the impact of our cutting-edge innovation across industries and regions," said Prakash Govindan, COO of Gradiant. "The minerals we target are essential to accelerating the electrification of society, and I am thrilled that alkaLi will play such an important role in availing these raw materials to the world’s pioneers."
Interested in EC2 for your site? Gradiant now offers a free applications testing program to showcase alkaLi’s Extract, Concentrate, and Convert capabilities across various feedwaters. Contact Gradiant to learn more at www.gradiant.com/contact.
About Gradiant
Gradiant is a Different Kind of Water Company. With a full suite of differentiated and proprietary end-to-end solutions for advanced water and wastewater treatment powered by the top minds in water, the company serves its clients' mission-critical operations in the world's essential industries, including semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, lithium and critical minerals, and renewable energy. Gradiant's innovative solutions reduce water used and wastewater discharged, reclaim valuable resources, and renew wastewater into freshwater. The Boston-headquartered company was founded at MIT and has over 1,000 employees worldwide. Learn more at gradiant.com.
About alkaLi
alkaLi is dedicated to accelerating the scaling of lithium and other critical minerals production. The company is powered by the EC2 technology, the world's only all-in-one solution engineered to Extract, Concentrate, and Convert battery-grade lithium. alkaLi offers mineral producers an unprecedented new means to rapidly scale production with significant benefits in output capacity, speed, cost, and sustainability—with a solution that adapts to the broadest range of source inputs in the industry, including brine, evaporation, and recycling. The Boston-headquartered company is a standalone company spun out from Gradiant. Learn more at alkaLi3.com.
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