British Lithium said it had filed two more patents for the production of high purity lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide at the company’s pilot plant in Cornwall.
RESEARCH
The company has for five years researched the “most sustainable and economic process” to recover lithium from the unconventional lithium mica granites found across northern Europe.
Since January, British Lithium has been producing 99.9% pure battery-grade lithium carbonate at its end-to-end pilot plant.
PATENTS
Following test work at its Cornwall-based pilot plant, British Lithium submitted the two new patents to the UK’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
“We have spent five years developing our LiMica-Sep technology for sustainably concentrating the mica without use of chemicals, and Li-Sep technology for extracting and refining the lithium,” said chief executive Andrew Smith.
“We currently have five British and three international patents pending, with more to follow.
“Patenting our technology is important because it ensures our freedom to operate and protects our shareholders’ considerable investment.”
British Lithium is a private company backed by high net worth international investors.
The company next plans to lodge the additional patents internationally.
PRODUCTION FORECAST
The company recently received a Scale up Readiness Validation (SuRV) grant from the Automotive Transformation Fund to fund £2 million of a £5.5 million development programme over the next 18 months.
British Lithium chairman Roderick Smith added that the award had followed a “rigorous, competitive process that involved five independent panels assessing thousands of applications”.
“We are lucky to have a crack team of industry professionals dedicated to implementing our technology in a full-scale project that will produce 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year.
“The investment required to achieve that is significant at over US$400 million, so proving our scale-up readiness and innovative methodology to a very high standard is critical.”