Vulcan Energy Resources Limited: Vulcan Energie Ressourcen GmbH has successfully developed and tested a proprietary lithium extraction sorbent for sustainable lithium extraction from the Upper Rhine G

Vulcan Energie Ressourcen GmbH, an indirect subsidiary of Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd, has successfully developed and tested a proprietary lithium extraction sorbent, VULSORB™️, for sustainable lithium extraction from the brine of the Upper Rhine Graben.

VULSORB™️ has demonstrated higher performance and lower water consumption for lithium extraction in Vulcan’s pilot plant, compared with commercially available sorbents also tested by Vulcan Energie Ressourcen GmbH. The test-work has been carried out using brine from the geothermal plant in Insheim which is operated commercially by another company belonging to the Vulcan Group.

The manufacturing process for VULSORB™️ has been shown to be environmentally benign, with many of the reagents recycled and with opportunities for Vulcan to use its own produced lithium to manufacture future sorbent once in production, thus reducing Vulcan’s carbon footprint and operating costs while fulfilling the European Union’s circular economy goals. 

The process developed by Vulcan is significantly faster, more efficient and has a smaller carbon footprint than the industry's conventional method of extracting lithium on a large scale through evaporation and chemical reagents, followed by the use of sodium hydroxide to produce lithium hydroxide. The sorbent extraction takes place within hours rather than the 18 months required by conventional extraction methods.