Revolutionizing Lithium Extraction with Cost-Effective, High-Performance Technology
At Geo40, we’ve developed groundbreaking low-cost, high-performance Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology that is principally designed to unlock lithium from oil and gas produced waters.
Since early 2024, our third-generation pilot plant has been on the road, proving our technology’s efficiency and scalability across the key North American lithium bearing oil and gas formations as identified by the industry.
Join us as we pioneer the future of sustainable lithium extraction.
How we aim to succeed in recovering lithium from produced waters
Cutting-Edge Lithium Extraction, Tested in the Field
Our third-generation pilot plant is designed to validate every stage of a full Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) process, bringing efficiency and scalability to the oilfield. It features three core components:
Brine Pretreatment
Refining the feedstock for peak lithium recovery
Direct Lithium Extraction
Unlocking lithium efficiently from oilfield produced waters
LiCl Concentration
Refining the lithium chloride for downstream processing
By deploying our mobile pilot plant directly at the wellhead, we process fresh brines on-site, in real time - delivering unmatched insights into how a full-scale lithium recovery plant would perform.
We’re bringing next-generation lithium extraction directly to an oilfield near you.
Our Three-Stage Lithium Recovery Process
Our Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology transforms produced water into a valuable lithium resource through a three-step process designed for efficiency and scalability.
Pretreatment
Removing hydrocarbon contaminants from produced water to ensure a clean, optimized brine that is ready for lithium recovery.
Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE)
Extraction of high-purity lithium chloride (LiCl) through advanced multi-cycle processing, maximizing yield and efficiency.
LiCl Concentration
Refining and concentrating lithium chloride, preparing it for sale or further conversion into battery-grade lithium.
We believe that we are the only DLE Technology company to be doing pretreatment, DLE and lithium chloride concentration directly at the wellhead so widely across North America.
Scaling Up in Lithium
We plan to commission our next-generation lithium pre-commercial demonstration plant during mid-2025. We intend to deploy into North America, on an oil and gas produced water site late in 2025.
We are working towards being the very best large-scale direct lithium extraction technology partner an oil and gas major could hope to work with.
If you’re an oil and gas producer that is serious about lithium, you need to be talking to Geo40.
Background to Our Lithium Technology
At Geo40, every breakthrough begins in the lab—where we rigorously test and refine our theories before scaling up through pilot plants and into full commercial deployment.
In 2022, we commissioned our second-generation DLE pilot plant in New Zealand, validating our technology across a diverse range of lithium-bearing brines from around the world. This pivotal step confirmed the viability of our process, paving the way for our mobile pilot plant deployment currently on the road in North America.
By combining precision engineering with real-world testing, we ensure our Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology is ready to deliver scalable, cost-effective solutions for lithium recovery from produced oilfield brines.
The Imperative for Sustainable Direct Lithium Recovery
Lithium is currently extracted almost entirely through hard-rock mining or evaporation from salt lakes (or salars). Both techniques are widely seen as being environmentally impactful, and there is a strong imperative for sustainable direct lithium recovery technologies.
Salar evaporation
Lithium is sourced from salars, typically located from the Lithium Triangle in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
Subsurface fluids are placed into large evaporation ponds to produce a concentrate, which is typically refined in China.
Hard rock lithium mining
Lithium is commonly sourced from spodumene, a lithium mineral derived from pegmatite rock. Li2O concentrations typically vary between 1 – 8%.
The process involves excavation, crushing and extraction of a lithium concentrate, which is typically then refined in China.
Typical direct lithium extraction
Direct lithium extraction is the process of recovering lithium from subsurface fluids through a direct physical or chemical process.
It is best practice to reinject the fluids back underground once the lithium has been recovered.
Our Lithium Recovery Process
1. GeoSeive Upload
Lithium bearing geothermal fluid is allowed contact with Geo40’s proprietary GeoSeive compound.
2. GeoSieve Concentration
Geo40 proprietary technology is used to concentrate the lithium-bearing GeoSieve, and lithium-depleted brine is reinjected back into the aquifer.
3. Dewatering of GeoSieve
The lithium-bearing GeoSieve is dewatered to further improve concentration.
4. Separation of Lithium from GeoSieve
The GeoSieve is then regenerated to release the lithium.
5. Dewatering and recycling of GeoSieve
Geo40 proprietary technology is used to dewater the Geoseive for recycling and reuse.
6. Lithium concentration
The lithium liquor is concentrated for further refining on site.
Going global
Geo40 has now successfully processed a wide range of lithium-bearing brine types, initially at our two New Zealand based pilot plants, on our initial North American pilot-plant field tour and now more recently on our North American micro-piloting tour.
These brine types include:
- New Zealand low-grade brine
- European low and high-grade brines
- USA moderate grade oil-field brine
- Argentinian Salar high-grade brine
- Argentinian Salar high-grade tailings brine
- Chilean Formation Waters
- USA and Canadian produced waters
- USA and Canadian formation waters
Our DLE technology is ultra-selective for lithium; on every brine that we have processed to date we have achieved very high rates of recovery, successfully producing battery grade lithium material following our full process in its entirety.
Feedback on our process
“I have been engaged by Geo40 since January 2022 to observe and review the development of their direct lithium recovery technology.
“Their approach, using a mineral sorbent, broadly follows the logic of the CIP process developed for low-grade gold deposit recovery in the 1980’s, however this approach is not without its challenges.
“Much as Geo40 has done at scale with silica recovery, they have cleverly deployed their knowledge and intellectual property to successfully deal with the key solid-liquid separation process steps, and Geo40’s in-house team of chemists, engineers and metallurgists are well placed to deploy their technology at scale in the very near future.
“Their second pilot plant, which has now been running successfully for 12 weeks, has demonstrated to me that they have a very compelling DLE process, and I believe they lead the market in cost-effective recovery of lithium from low to moderate grade brines, which coupled with the wide range of brine chemistries they have trialled makes them a very serious contender in the sector indeed.”
Mike Gunn, Gunn Metallurgy, November 2022.
Next steps
As we succeed with lithium recovery at pilot scale, we will do exactly what we did on our silica journey; progressively scale up towards commercial production.
The difference with lithium, in a world desperate for sustainable sources to fuel the electric mobility revolution, is the imperative to move rapidly. We are now talking to potential partners about deployment at pace.
