As the world continues to embrace renewable energy storage solutions, portable electronics and the transition to electric vehicles, the global demand for lithium-ion batteries is experiencing a significant surge.
However, the production of lithium is a complex and delicate process, with evaporation and crystallization units being crucial components that determine the success of lithium production plants and the financial return for the investors. The options to source these key equipment are many but engaging with inadequate suppliers can get lithium miners mired in costly schedule delays, budget overruns, and capacity/quality deficiencies, which can be exacerbated due to the challenging environmental conditions often faced at project sites.
So, what should lithium producers take into consideration when evaluating a credible evaporation and crystallization company to partner with? The evaporation and crystallization supplier should have:
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Deep technical know-how and process design expertise for integrated multi-unit operation systems: It is vital to select a supplier that possesses in-depth knowledge and expertise in handling challenging chemistries and continuously evolving impurity profiles throughout the purification, concentration and crystallization process. This ensures that they can effectively navigate the complexities of the lithium production process to reliably achieve the desired product quality and capacity.
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Capability to provide modular solutions: Choosing a supplier that offers modular solutions is crucial, particularly for installations in remote locations. Modular solutions enable cost-effective setups in challenging environments and facilitate efficient operations.
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State-of-the-art research and development capabilities: A reputable supplier should have robust R&D capabilities to evaluate the feasibility of projects, validate processes and to optimize and de-risk the commercial scale plant design prior to commissioning.
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Proven track record of project execution and global references: It is essential to partner with a company that has a successful track record and has demonstrated its ability to adapt to a wide variety of resources and project requirements, ensuring reliable and successful installations that are supplied, commissioned, and producing on-specification products on schedule.
Focus on a high-quality technology provider
A qualified partner with the right skills and experience makes all the difference, especially in remote locations. Whether extracted from brine deposits or mined from hard-rock minerals, lithium processing is easier and more effective with a reliable provider of integrated solutions.
One such company is Veolia. As a leading provider of treatment technologies and processing equipment worldwide, we understand the technical challenges associated with the increasing demand for lithium and the production of low-cost, highest purity lithium salts for advanced electric battery manufacturing.
Through our global sales network and local field service support, we offer world-class HPD® evaporation and crystallization technologies. These systems have proven to be reliable and efficient in extracting the most high-purity lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide salts while removing persistent impurities and recovering valuable byproducts.
The robust and low energy HPD systems contribute to improved project economics for lithium producers. By reducing commissioning time, minimizing processing costs and increasing operating margins, we enable more efficient lithium refining operations with reduced carbon and water footprints. We understand how to make lithium refining operations better, faster and cleaner thanks to a long track record of optimizing purification, evaporation, crystallization and concentration processes in the mining and chemical industries.
