Our DLE Technology Choice:
Adsorption
Proven, plant-ready DLE that turns wastewater into lithium revenue.
See why here
Adsorption-Based Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE)
Mature, low-impact DLE technology designed for real brines and real uptime.
There are many ways to do Direct Lithium Extraction. We chose adsorption-based DLE because it is already working at an industrial scale, fits our cost and ESG goals, and is robust enough for complex brines like oilfield-produced water and geothermal brines.
Our primary adsorption partner already supplies more than 75,000 tonnes LCE per year. In other words, the technology is bankable. What is new is applying it to produced water.
What Is Adsorption-Based DLE?
Adsorption-based DLE uses solid materials that have a strong preference for lithium ions.
- Brine flows through packed columns filled with lithium-selective media.
- Lithium ions are adsorbed on the surface of the material.
- The columns are then desorbed to release a lithium-rich solution, which is then refined into lithium carbonate or hydroxide.
For our chosen DLE technology, desorption is done with water rather than aggressive chemicals. That means a cleaner flowsheet, fewer safety concerns, and simpler operations.
Why We Chose Adsorption Over Other DLE Technologies
We benchmarked adsorption against other DLE technologies on real criteria: runtime, OpEx, ESG, and fit with produced water and geothermal brines.
Ion Exchange |
Solvent Extraction |
Membrane and Electrochemical Approaches |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Reason | Uses acid stripping and more complex chemistry, which adds chemical consumption and EHS complexity in the field. | Mixes brine with organic solvents, increasing CapEx, OpEx, and the complexity of waste handling. | Highly innovative, but most are still early-stage with limited industrial runtime and higher technology risk for near-term deployment. |
Ion Exchange
Solvent Extraction
Membrane and Electrochemical Approaches
Why Adsorption Wins for Lithium Harvest
-
Mature Enough to Rely On
The only DLE technology with long industrial runtime and a genuine multi-supplier ecosystem. -
Clean Flowsheet
Water-based desorption with high recycle rates cuts reagent use and avoids hazardous waste streams. -
ESG Fit by Design
Water-based operation and compact equipment align with environmental screening and future battery passport requirements. -
Brine Versatility
When paired with advanced pretreatment, adsorption works efficiently across produced water, geothermal brines, and other challenging chemistries. -
Supply-Chain Flexibility
Multiple qualified vendors and sorbent families reduce single-vendor risk and give us leverage on price and performance.
How We De-Risk Adsorption Performance
Our job is not to bet on a single material. It is to turn adsorption into repeatable, bankable projects on your brine.
-
In-House Qualification
- We test multiple adsorption media on project-specific brines in our own facilities.
- Bench/column tests measure kinetics, capacity, recovery, and long-cycle durability under realistic conditions.
-
Model-to-Plant Rigor
- Lab and column data are converted into standard adsorption models and breakthrough curves.
- Those parameters feed our process simulations, size of columns, define cycle times, and optimize throughput for each project.
-
Swap-Ready Module Design
- Our DLE modules are material-agnostic.
- Columns can be repacked with the best-performing sorbent without redesigning the entire plant, so future media improvements drop into the same hardware.
-
Dual-Source Strategy
- For each project, we aim to qualify at least two media suppliers.
- That reduces supply risk, evens out performance variance, and protects long-term unit economics.
Continuous Performance & Cost Optimization
We run an ongoing optimization program focused on:
- Optimizing cycle times
- Extending sorbent life
- Improving recovery and capacity on difficult brines
We work with top-tier universities around the world to push the performance of adsorption and process design even further. Our in-house R&D team has already increased recoveries, extended sorbent life, and reduced cost per ton of LCE on real brines.
What This Means for Your Operation
Adsorption-based DLE gives Lithium Harvest and our partners the fastest and lowest risk route to local, low-impact lithium:
- Mature enough to deploy now
- Flexible enough to keep improving
- Simple enough to scale by modular replication across many sites
For partners, that combination means a faster, lower-risk path from “interesting brine” to “operating lithium asset” - using technology that is ready for real plants, real brines, and real uptime.