ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

GeoLith raises EUR1.5m for geothermal direct lithium extraction

French technology startup GEOLITH raises equity and joins forces with EURODIA,
for the industrial and commercial development of its environmentally responsible lithium production technology

As shared in a company release, France-based GEOLITH will be raising equity to join forces with EURODIA to develop Li-Capt®, an ecologically  responsible technology for extracting lithium from geothermal and mining resources. GEOLITH has been chosen recently to provide their technology to the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project in Cornwall, UK, as we reported.

GEOLITH, born in the heart of Paris-Saclay, with its industrial establishment in the East of France, finances the development of its Li-Capt® extraction process with Eurodia Group, a world specialist in industrial liquid purification solutions. A fundraising of 1.2 million euros completed by their historical Business Angels, up to 315 000 euros. Thanks to this round of financing, GEOLITH aims to establish itself as a reference on the international lithium market alongside EURODIA.

Li-Capt®, an innovation in pilot phase

Li-Capt® extraction process is an eco-responsible technological enabler for geothermal, oil and mining players who wish to exploit lithium reserves to meet the challenges of electric mobility. After four years of R&D with the Paris-Saclay teams, largely supported by national innovation and environment schemes, the performance of the Li-Capt® technological process has been validated with pre-industrial pilots for geothermal sources (France and the United Kingdom) as well as for mining and oil sources: another pilot is under construction for mining operations in Chile, and exchanges are underway with the oil sector.

The challenges of ‘clean’ lithium in Europe

By 2030, the demand for lithium will increase at least tenfold according to experts. Faced with this very strong growth driven by the electric mobility market and its need for batteries, the industrial world must meet three simultaneous challenges:

Thanks to Li-Capt®, which can be adapted to any type of lithium-bearing brine (saltwater containing lithium), GEOLITH is preparing to offer a challenge to the industry. The first challenge is to produce “clean lithium” in Europe from geothermal salt water. “With extraction rates of up to 95% in industrial conditions, more than 30% of the lithium demand for producing “made in Europe” batteries could be produced by clean extraction on the continent,” explains Jean-Philippe Gibaud and Didier Muschalle, founders of GEOLITH. A local and eco-responsible production in line with the aspirations of electric vehicle buyers.

Beyond Europe, the global players are also subject to major international competition. GEOLITH is therefore going to tackle the other continents that have lithium resources from geothermal energy, but also from mines and oil & gas.

GEOLITH and EURODIA: a strategic partnership

“We have chosen to participate in the development of GEOLITH in full coherence with our vision: the future of industry is to take giant steps by reducing its environmental footprint. The eco-responsible extraction of Li-Capt® combined with the eco-efficient purification of our processes will enable us to offer complete facilities, from raw brine to the commercial product, lithium hydroxide used in the manufacture of batteries, with maximum quality and guaranteed environmental performance.”, so Mathieu Bailly, CEO of Eurodia,

“The partnership with EURODIA will bring many synergies to accelerate development, through the contribution of expertise in the design of fluid processing facilities, the ability to build lithium extraction facilities around the world, and the supply of the “next-step”: refining through their innovative electrodialysis process.”, said Jean-Philippe Gibaud, CEO of GEOLITH.

More generally, the investment by Eurodia and the Business Angels will enable GEOLITH:

Source: Company release by email

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