Direct lithium extraction (DLE)

State of the art (2026)

Direct lithium extraction is in commercial production. Eramet's Centenario plant in Salta, Argentina, started up at the end of 2024 and produced 6,700 tonnes of lithium carbonate in 2025. It made 12,700 tonnes in the first nine months of 2026 and, Eramet says, has run at its design capacity of 24,000 tonnes a year since the start of October. Eramet expects 17,000 to 20,000 tonnes for 2026 as a whole. Other projects, in Arkansas and Germany, are at earlier stages and we do not have current dates for them that we trust.

DLE is the bridge between lithium demand growth and resource availability

Global lithium demand is projected to grow 3-5x by 2035 driven by EV battery production. Current lithium supply (primarily Chilean/Argentine evaporation ponds and Australian hard-rock mines) cannot scale fast enough: evaporation ponds take 12-18 months for a single production cycle and have 40-50% lithium recovery rates. DLE technologies extract lithium from brine in 24-72 hours with 80-95% recovery rates, potentially doubling the effective lithium supply from existing brine resources. More critically, DLE unlocks brine resources that evaporation cannot access: oilfield produced waters (2B+ barrels/day in the US alone contain lithium), geothermal brines (Salton Sea), and low-concentration brines across the US Smackover Formation. DLE doesn't just improve lithium production — it geographically redistributes it.

Three DLE approaches compete, and the winner depends on the brine

DLE encompasses three distinct technological approaches: (1) Ion exchange/adsorption (Lilac Solutions, Livent) using lithium-selective sorbent materials that capture lithium ions from brine and release them into a clean solution — the most proven approach with the broadest brine compatibility. (2) Solvent extraction (EnergyX, Tenova) using organic solvents that selectively dissolve lithium — potentially lower cost but with solvent degradation and environmental concerns. (3) Electrochemical separation (Electra Lithium, Mangrove Lithium) using electrical potential to drive lithium through a membrane — lowest energy consumption but least proven at scale. No single approach works optimally for all brines. The commercial winners will be companies that can adapt their technology to diverse brine chemistries, not those with the best performance on a single brine.

The pilot-to-commercial gap is the technology risk — and it is real

Every DLE technology has demonstrated >80% lithium recovery at pilot scale (1-100 tonnes LCE/year). None has operated at commercial scale (10,000+ tonnes/year) with published, audited economics. The pilot-to-commercial gap in extraction technologies is historically where most technologies fail: scaling from a controlled pilot to a continuous industrial operation introduces equipment fouling, sorbent/solvent degradation, brine variability, and process integration challenges that don't appear at small scale. The first company to demonstrate commercial-scale DLE with economics below $6,000/tonne LCE and sustained operation for 12+ months will prove the technology for the entire industry. Lilac Solutions (Kachi project, Argentina) and Schlumberger (technology provider) are the most likely to reach this milestone first.