Report Highlights
Foreword: This report focuses on the analysis and prospect of the future development trend of lithium resource supply in salt lakes from the perspective of lithium extraction technology from salt lakes, combined with nearly 40 representative projects around the world.
Capacity efficiency – the shackles of the global salt lake lithium supply. Salt lake-type lithium resources account for nearly 60% of the world’s total proven lithium resources, and various types of brine lithium account for nearly 80% of China’s lithium resource potential. In addition, the resource volume of single salt lake projects is usually large and can support higher annual production. It is expected to become the cornerstone of global lithium resource supply in the TWh era because of its large scale, low production cost and less environmental pressure on tailings. However, looking back on the history of the lithium industry, when ushering in the historic development opportunity of new energy vehicles, especially since 2015, the global supply share of lithium extraction from salt lakes has dropped significantly from nearly 60% to only 43%, mainly due to the constraints of production capacity efficiency. . On the one hand, the resource endowment of salt lakes is superior, but most of them are located in remote, cold and high-altitude areas with weak infrastructure. It is not as efficient and stable as ore for lithium extraction, and the production line is easy to replicate, so it is difficult to respond sensitively to the outbreak of downstream demand. On the other hand, the yield of lithium in the huge salt field system is only about 40%, and there is a lot of entrainment loss, resulting in the overall yield of lithium extraction from the salt lake is even less than 30%, and the resource utilization efficiency is not ideal.
The iterative acceleration of technological upgrading has awakened the “silent treasure on the plateau”. The core of lithium extraction from salt lakes is concentration and separation. The classic process is evaporation and precipitation, but it can only be fully applied to salt lake brine with low magnesium-to-lithium ratio. Based on the previous accumulation, with the explosion of downstream demand, the influx of capital and talents, and higher ESG standards, we expect that the slope of the growth curve of salt lake lithium extraction technology will be steeper in the future, and there will be five development trends: (1) Qinghai is a global salt lake. The technical highland of lithium extraction has broken through the extraction of lithium from salt lakes with high magnesium-lithium ratio and low lithium concentration, leading the process from “natural beach evaporation” to “industrial continuous production”; (2) The lithium extraction section is moved forward to reduce the entrainment loss of lithium , the extreme situation is to get rid of the dependence on salt fields, from “extracting lithium from old halogen” to “extracting lithium from original halogen” (ie DLE). In the past, lithium was a by-product of potassium, and in the future, lithium as the main product will be more common; (3) From From extensive to refined, by optimizing the salt field process and deploying innovative lithium extraction technology, the overall yield of lithium extraction from salt lakes is expected to increase from about 30% to more than 60% in the future, which is equivalent to recreating a resource; (4) On the product side, From relying on low-cost mass production of industrial-grade lithium carbonate, to one-step production of battery-grade lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride, lithium phosphate and other multiple products, and gradually extending to deep processing such as metal lithium; (5) The lake area lacks electricity but solar energy Rich, embracing new energy, supporting photovoltaic / solar thermal has become the industry standard.
The adsorption method stands out in practice. No matter the classical salt field precipitation, or electrodialysis, membrane method, extraction, adsorption and other multiple new technologies, we believe that there is no best solution, only the solution that best fits the characteristics of the salt lake, the actual situation of the mining area, and the most suitable for development needs. Integrated coupling will become a trend. Overall, we believe that at the current stage, the adsorption method is the most suitable for the technical needs of “low-grade, low-cost, green lithium extraction”, among which the adsorption + membrane separation coupling is the most mature, and the core lies in the customized development of high selectivity, large adsorption capacity, Long life adsorbent. (1) The adsorption method is suitable for salt lakes with low lithium concentration, and the application scenarios will increase in the future. The proportion of the adsorption method in the lithium extraction capacity of the salt lakes under construction in the world has reached 66%; (2) The adsorption can also bring blessings to the first-line salt lakes , which can improve yields, reduce the area of salt pans, and reduce environmental footprints. (3) For the problem of large consumption of fresh water, optimization can be achieved by improving adsorption performance and adding circulation devices.
Technology is the blessing of resources to create lithium ideas. We believe that lithium still belongs to an emerging resource variety, and it is also a low-grade mineral; and the name of “high-quality resource” is not only because of the beautiful endowment data, but also because it can be efficiently converted into value. Therefore, the technology of lithium extraction from salt lakes is critical and will bring excess returns.
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