Sunresin pitches turnkey EPC route for lithium extraction plants

Sunresin says its integrated EPC model can move lithium projects from brine intake to battery-grade chemicals faster than solar evaporation ponds. The company highlights nine commercial direct lithium extraction contracts and 73,000 tpa of installed capacity across salt lake and geothermal projects.

Why it matters: - Battery-grade lithium demand is rising with the global electric vehicle market. - Sunresin says direct lithium extraction can shorten project timelines compared with solar evaporation ponds, which can require up to 18 months. - The company is positioning turnkey EPC delivery as a way to reduce integration risk and speed commissioning for mining developers.

What happened: - Sunresin outlined a full Engineering, Procurement, and Construction lifecycle for direct lithium extraction, from raw brine intake to finished lithium chemicals. - The company described its process in four stages: brine assessment and pretreatment, adsorption and desorption, downstream refining, and modular system delivery. - Sunresin linked to its direct lithium extraction solution and its high-temperature lithium adsorbent technology for geothermal brine direct lithium extraction. - Sunresin also linked to its company profile and its main website.

The details: - The brine assessment phase evaluates lithium concentration, total dissolved solids, temperature, and competing ion ratios. - The company says geothermal brines can exceed 60 to 80 degrees Celsius, creating thermal stress that calls for high-temperature adsorbent media. - Pretreatment includes clarification, multi-media filtration, chemical softening, and automated pH control. - Sunresin says these steps remove suspended solids, hydrocarbons, calcium, and magnesium before the brine reaches adsorption columns. - The adsorption core uses SEPLITE® lithium adsorbents designed to capture lithium while excluding sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. - The media is described as having rapid mass transfer kinetics, high dynamic working capacity, and mechanical durability across millions of hydraulic loading cycles. - Desorption uses warm water, avoiding aggressive chemical reagents during initial eluate extraction. - Continuous Simulated Moving Bed systems coordinate multiple columns to simulate counter-current flow and improve mass transfer. - Sunresin says the continuous setup lowers fresh water use, footprint needs, and energy consumption versus fixed-bed batch systems. - The eluate contains concentrated lithium chloride and then passes through reverse osmosis and nanofiltration to remove bulk water. - Chelating resins then remove trace calcium, magnesium, and boron before thermal crystallization. - Mechanical Vapor Recompression crystallizers concentrate the stream with lower thermal energy consumption. - Reacting the purified concentrate with sodium carbonate produces lithium carbonate. - Treating the stream with calcium hydroxide produces lithium hydroxide monohydrate. - Sunresin says its industrial precipitation systems are designed to control temperature and agitation for uniform particle size and product purity above 99.5%.

Between the lines: - The pitch is as much about integration as chemistry. - Sunresin argues that housing media production and process engineering together reduces mismatches between adsorbent performance, valve timing, and skid design. - The company says that fragmentation among suppliers can create bottlenecks and delay startup. - Sunresin says it has secured 9 commercial DLE contracts with combined capacity of 73,000 metric tons per year. - The company says those projects span salt lake and geothermal environments, which it uses as proof that the model works across different brine types. - Sunresin also says it has more than 300 technical experts supporting research, training, and lifecycle monitoring.

What's next: - Sunresin says project execution starts with bench-scale feasibility testing on representative brine samples. - Developers then move to containerized mobile pilot skids for on-site testing under seasonal brine variation. - After pilot validation, Sunresin says modular skid manufacturing can proceed in parallel with civil construction. - Each skid undergoes factory acceptance testing before shipment. - The company says it provides operator training, technical support, and continuous system monitoring after deployment.

The bottom line: - Sunresin is selling a one-stop DLE model that ties media, engineering, and plant delivery together for lithium developers trying to cut time, risk, and footprint.