Koch Separation Solutions (KSS) has announced the acquisition of LIONEX technology from Chemionex Inc. The acquisition serves as the foundation for the launch of their Li-PRO™ process featuring a proprietary global solution for Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE).
“The launch of the Li-PRO process, coupled with the broader EPC capabilities of our parent, Koch Engineered Solutions, will deliver complete end-to-end solutions for DLE customers,” said Manny Singh, President of KSS.
The Li-PRO™ process is an optimized DLE process configuration combining specialized lithium selective extraction media and leading KSS equipment including robust PURON® membrane-based pretreatment, Recoflo® packed bed lithium extraction, Recoflo softening, and high-recovery reverse osmosis (RO) concentration operations to generate a purified lithium chloride solution. The solution is geared towards customers seeking an optimized solution to developing lithium battery materials to keep up with the growing demand for lithium batteries, primarily in electric vehicles.
“The innovative and patent-pending aspects of the Li-PRO solution will be synergistic with KSS’ world-class capabilities in ion exchange and sorptive technologies, membrane filtration, and thermal separations. This combination will deliver superior lithium recovery and purity, chemical consumption, water efficiency, and simplified system configurations, optimizing CAPEX and OPEX to lithium producers,” said Singh.
KSS will offer the Li-PRO process as a complete offering or as standalone separation processes, depending on customers’ unique needs. Their team will initially engage developers in a piloting phase to refine the process design of each step, and work collaboratively to implement small to large-scale operations at optimized performance specifications.