Why did AZL and Prairie Lithium team want to change their DLE...

Why did AZL and Prairie Lithium team want to change their DLE technology away from their ion exchange (PLix) to a third-party sorption resin has nothing to do with efficiency and capability of the PLix resin to extract lithium from an oil brine.

The answer has more to do with reducing the initial CAPEX and OPEX costs associated with a modular plant design, environmental impact, and transportation requirements to move the concentrate LiCl solution to an offsite processing facility.

The key advantage of sorption DLE resin is the process does not require an acid eluent to extract the lithium eluate, and the final concentration mixture is a neutral pH solution with no dangerous goods restrictions.

Here are some areas where the sorption technology would have an advantage over an ion exchange resin on pad site that is expected to move to next location when the available resources has been depleted.The sorption DLE process does not require:
• concentrate HCl and a specialise storage area,
• additional neutralisation step,
• storage and handling of a suitable base,
• additional site bunding,
• acid tailing pond,
• environmental monitoring,
• transportation requirement for dangerous goods,
• additional health and safety requirements.

Ion exchange resins are more suitable for a processing plant where infrastructure is permanent over the life of the project (i.e. Big Sandy). Also, these resins have a greater capacity to extract lithium than the sorption technology. The only unknown at this stage is their long-term durability and cycle life.

The main issue that needs to be addressed is the detailed engineering and process design for the technology to be used in the Saskatchewan oil fields. It’s expected the chemical nature of resin used will change multiples times as this technology is developed further, and normal supply completion would also reduce their costs as demand increases. As seen in another chemical areas that use resins for extraction, purification or leaching.