Page 164 - CW E-Magazine (15-7-2025)

News from Abroad

NEW PROJECT
Gradiant setting up integrated lithium production

facility from oilfield produced water

Gradiant, a US-based water and
resource recovery specialist, has announ-
ced that its lithium business, alkaLi,
will design, build, own, and operate a
commercial lithium production facility
in the Marcellus Shale Formation of
Pennsylvania.

According to the company, this site
is the world’s first to Extract, Concen-
trate, and Convert (EC²) lithium in a
fully integrated, end-to-end process
from oilfield produced water.

“This announcement builds on last
year’s launch of alkaLi’s EC² platform,
which guarantees a minimum 95% for battery-grade lithium carbonate. proves what EC² can deliver,” said
lithium recovery at customer sites – Full commercial operations are on track Anurag Bajpayee, CEO of Gradiant.
empowering producers to deliver bat- for early 2026. “This isn’t a concept – it’s a live faci-
tery-grade lithium carbonate faster, lity demonstrating that clean, domestic
cheaper, and more sustainably,” the In a major commercial achievement, lithium production is both viable and
company said. alkaLi has signed a multi-year offtake scalable. This strategic investment in
agreement to supply up to 5,000-tpa the Marcellus Shale, which could sup-
Gradiant’s alkaLi owns and ope- of battery-grade lithium carbonate to ply 50% of US lithium demand, vali-
rates the Pennsylvania facility – including a US lithium-ion battery manufacturer dates the maturity of alkaLi’s techno-
equipment, land, water and mineral for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy logy and secures a long-term domestic
rights, and permits. Currently in storage systems (ESS). supply.” alkaLi’s patented EC² process
testing, the system has already proven combines Direct Lithium Extraction,
key benchmarks: 97% lithium recovery “We now have a fully operational concentration, and final conversion into
from produced water and 99.5% purity lithium production asset in the US that a single streamlined system.

LITHIUM PRODUCTION
Posco joins up with Australian firm for building DLE

demo plant in US

South Korean conglomerate, Posco between the two companies, Posco Hold- Under the deal, Posco Holdings will
Holdings, has teamed up with Australia’s ings will lead the construction of the evaluate its proprietary DLE techno-
Anson Resources Ltd. to build a plant for the Green River lithium pro- logy, which was initially developed in
direct lithium extraction (DLE) demon- ject in Utah’s Paradox Basin, owned by 2016. It will be the first Korean com-
stration plant in the US. Anson Resources, a natural resources pany to test the feasibility of DLE in
exploration and development company the US. The company has commenced
Under a non-binding memorandum headquartered in Brisbane. Its a detailed review of the site. Once the
of understanding (MoU) agreement construction is expected to begin in 2026. test confirms commercial viability, the

164 Chemical Weekly July 15, 2025

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