Screening of Adsorbents for Lithium Extraction from Saskatchewan Brine Deposits

With the growth in demand for electric vehicles and mobile devices powered by rechargeable lithium batteries, demand for lithium is expected to increase by over 200% in the next decade. Current lithium production comes primarily from Australia, South America and China. There are significant lithium reserves in the same Saskatchewan aquifers currently being exploited for their concomitant oil reserves. Although the lithium concentration in these aquifers is lower than in brines being mined elsewhere, new lithium selective extraction technologies show great promise for making extraction of lithium from these aquifers economical. Prairie Lithium is looking to develop the first lithium brine mine in Saskatchewan using produced water from oil and gas production. The project described here involves screening of potential lithium selective adsorbents to find the most promising candidate for Saskatchewan conditions. The selected material will then be used in a pilot system to demonstrate the economic viability of the entire process.

Faculty Supervisor:

Amr Henni

Student:

William Nguyen

Partner:

Prairie Lithium Inc.

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

University:

University of Regina

Program: