Saltworks » News
Saltworks Scores a Lithium Hat-Trick
Three Major Developments for Saltworks' Lithium Solutions
December 15th 2020
Lithium’s future has never been so bright, powering mobile devices, electric vehicles and more. Lithium is helping to enable the low carbon economy, however its extraction and refining into battery grade inputs needs to be economic as well as “green” and “blue” to prevent an environmentally damaging supply chain.
Our water mining expertise and advanced desalination technologies are proving to be a perfect fit for lithium clients. To that end, Saltworks is delighted to announce a hat-trick of lithium wins:
- A Fortune 500 company and new entrant to the lithium industry selected Saltworks to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide solids.
- A leading lithium company hired Saltworks to design, build, and help operate their plant, producing better-than-battery quality (>99.9% purity) lithium carbonate (more on this below).
- Oil & Gas companies are entering the lithium space too. We recently completed a contract helping an oil & gas company scale their lithium extraction process.
Saltworks’ Comprehensive Lithium Solutions
Production of high purity lithium ion battery inputs requires advanced, well-controlled processes. To keep the environmental footprint low, lithium yield needs to be maximized to prevent the waste of lithium and water, while consumption of energy and chemicals needs to be minimized. Saltworks is at the forefront of cost-optimized, high purity, high yield lithium processing technology, with custom solutions fitted to each source’s needs. Most of our systems operate downstream of another firms’ direct lithium extraction (DLE) process that produces low grade lithium chloride with impurities. Our water refining acumen and products turn the low-grade inputs into valued, battery grade outputs.
We were thrilled to see the plant we built for Standard Lithium, now producing exceptional quality lithium carbonate, highlighted at mining.com — view pictures of the plant and high purity lithium carbonate produced. We are proud to help our clients achieve their goals with the technology, diligence, speed, and flexibility they need.
Saltworks is eager to add value to the low carbon economy while also supporting traditional resource extraction industries. In the lithium space, we provide rapid total system mass and energy balance modeling, pilot testing, demonstration plants, and full-scale commercial plants, all from our headquarters in Richmond, BC. Please see our new lithium industry brochure or the related resources below to learn more, or contact our desalination and lithium experts directly with your project details.
About Saltworks
Saltworks Technologies is a leader in the development and delivery of solutions for industrial wastewater treatment and desalination. By working with customers to understand their unique challenges and focusing on continuous innovation, Saltworks’ solutions provide best-in-class performance and reliability on challenging waters. From its headquarters in Richmond, BC, Canada, Saltworks designs, builds, and operates full-scale treatment plants, and offers comprehensive offsite and onsite testing services with its fleet of mobile pilots.
Related Resources

Lithium Brine Extraction Technologies & Approaches
Recovering lithium in evaporation ponds can take a year or more and leaves behind lots of salt waste, but there are new technologies and processes that offer exciting options for lithium extraction.

Saltworks Enters Lithium Brine Extraction with Standard Lithium
Standard Lithium has commissioned Saltworks Technologies to design and build their novel, selective crystallization pilot plant. The plant is intended to make battery-grade lithium carbonate in a continuous process using lithium brine extraction.

Lithium Extraction and Refining
Lithium projects from concept to full-scale reality Request More Information Lithium Brochure PDF Saltworks’ brings water mining expertise and advanced desalination technologies to our lithium clients, offering solutions for concentrating,

Battery Grade Lithium Produced Following Successful First Pilot Test
Standard Lithium’s novel selective crystallization process is producing battery grade lithium carbonate in a pilot plant at Saltworks Technologies. The process includes Saltworks’ robotized BrineRefine water plant and our innovative process engineering.