Tag Archives: Tenova Advanced Technologies

Schlumberger aims to fast-track lithium brine extraction with DLE technology

Schlumberger New Energy has announced the development of a lithium extraction pilot plant in Clayton Valley, Nevada, through its new venture, NeoLith Energy.

The NeoLith Energy sustainable approach uses a differentiated direct lithium extraction (DLE) process to enable the production of high-purity, battery-grade lithium material while reducing the production time from over a year to weeks, the company claims.

“This innovative process can create new market opportunities for lithium extraction and battery manufacturing economy, and maximise the value of the lithium-rich resource base in Nevada with cutting-edge extraction technology,” it said.

NeoLith Energy’s pilot plant is a step towards a full-scale, commercial lithium production facility. The pilot plant results will be used to optimise the design of the full-scale production plant.

The production plant will use an environmentally friendly method for subsurface brine extraction and lithium production that requires a significantly smaller footprint and reduces water consumption by over 85% compared with current methods for lithium extraction from brine, it said.

Ashok Belani, Schlumberger New Energy Executive Vice President, said: “Nevada lithium resources present an excellent opportunity to demonstrate a leap in production efficiency with a more sustainable approach. Schlumberger’s expertise in the subsurface domain, development of process technology, and global deployment of technology at scale with various partners all play an important role in the innovation and efficiency of our DLE process. We are accelerating the deployment of our pilot plant in response to the high market demand for battery-grade lithium material.”

The pilot plant’s deployment is part of the Pure Energy Minerals agreement with Schlumberger New Energy for the development of its Nevada lithium brine property, using advanced technology to process the brine and extract high-purity lithium, maximising the lithium resource recovery.

Pure Energy Minerals previously developed a pilot plant design for the extraction of lithium brine through a design led by Tenova Advanced Technologies with significant contributions from SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions, a business unit of SUEZ Group, and NORAM Engineering & Constructors. The facility at the project would have been the first pilot-scale implementation of the Tenova Process in the world, a process specifically designed to exclude solar pond evaporation, increase and accelerate lithium recovery, and reduce the associated environmental footprint of lithium production.

Commissioning of the DLE pilot plant will begin following receipt of all necessary permits, Schlumberger New Energy said. NeoLith Energy intends to begin operations before the end of 2021.

Schlumberger New Energy has invested more than $15 million in this DLE process and expects the development and operation of the pilot plant in Nevada to require a similar amount of investment.

This DLE process has the potential to disrupt the lithium economy by opening new opportunities to existing production regions and enabling new lithium production regions across the globe to meet the growing demand, it says.

Schlumberger eyes up Nevada lithium brine project

Schlumberger has entered into an earn-in agreement with Pure Energy Minerals Ltd that could see it become the 100% owner of a lithium brine project in Nevada, US.

Pure Energy has granted subsidiaries of Schlumberger an option to acquire all of its interests in the Clayton Valley project in return for constructing, at its own cost and expense, a pilot plant for the processing of lithium brine.

Schlumberger, which is more used to providing services to those in the oil & gas field, has a three-year period in which to exercise the option and may only exercise it if it has completed construction of the pilot plant and test work, which achieves certain parameters, Pure Energy said.

Upon exercise of the option, Pure Energy will be entitled to a 3% net smelter returns royalty on minerals produced at the Clayton Valley and an advance minimum royalty payment of $400,000 per year starting January 1, 2021, for a period of five years or until the project achieves commercial production.

Pure Energy and its technical consultants have completed the basic design for the proposed pilot plant which could cost an estimated $15-$25 million. The company has received a water right from the Nevada Division of Water Resources to extract the lithium-bearing brine needed for operation of the planned pilot plant.

The pilot plant design is being led by Tenova Advanced Technologies with significant contributions from SUEZ Water Technologies & Solutions, a business unit of SUEZ Group, and NORAM Engineering & Constructors. The facility at the project will be the first pilot-scale implementation of the Tenova Process in the world. This process is specifically designed to exclude solar pond evaporation, increase and accelerate lithium recovery, and reduce the associated environmental footprint of lithium production.

TAKRAF to focus on HPGR, technical studies and data collection at Bauma

Tenova TAKRAF says the company’s high pressure grinding roll (HPGR) technology, among other developments, will be highlighted at the upcoming Bauma fair in Munich, Germany, on April 8-14.

The company said, for the first time, show visitors will be able to have a complete overview of the company’s entire service portfolio, which ranges from project development services to technical studies on comminution and minerals processing, innovative fabrication solutions, various technical services and comprehensive after-sales support.

“With a view to further developing their capabilities within the market of the comminution industry, TAKRAF continues to develop their range of roller presses, with a scale model of a HPGR on display at the booth (pictured),” the company said.

Two of these machines are being manufactured at the company’s specialised fabrication facility in Lauchhammer, Germany. These machines can each handle more than 907 t/h of cement clinker, with each machine incorporating rolls with a diameter of 1,800 mm and a weight of more than 450 t per roller.

“In order to meet the challenging longevity requirements of such a machine, each roll surface is protected from wear by weld hardfacing for cement applications, and with tungsten carbide inserts for ore processing,” TAKRAF said.

The company continued: “With the integration of the well-known DELKOR and Tenova Advanced Technologies (formerly Bateman Advanced Technologies) brand of products into TAKRAF as specialised product lines, the company’s portfolio for the minerals processing and beneficiation sectors has been considerably enhanced.”

At Bauma, visitors will be able to focus upon the company’s capabilities in minerals processing, including solvent extraction and lithium recovery; as well as flotation, thickening, filtration and dry stack tailings, according to TAKRAF.

The company will also use the event to highlight its Mining Technology Centre, TAKRAF said.

“Technical studies, which compare the techno-economic aspects of different system or equipment layouts are an intrinsic part of every investment process. The quality of the study strongly depends on the experience of the study team and the level of customer involvement,” the company said.

“Based upon a common understanding of the weighting of all such decision criteria, the transfer of technical and operational experience and expertise, even beyond their own portfolio, is a key driver in enabling the customer to make a competent decision regarding the optimal solution for the specific conditions of their particular mine.

“More and more customers appreciate the added value provided by the studies as part of the engineering service portfolio, and for this reason, the company has decided to restructure and tailor their services even better in order to best meet customer requirements.

“TAKRAF’s Mining Technology Centre will be present and on hand to present the myriad of possibilities and benefits of innovative study approaches to demonstrate they are pursuing this strategy together with their customers.”

TAKRAF said, in order to provide additional benefits and services to the company’s customers based on new digital technologies, several R&D projects in the field of the industrial internet of things have also been advanced.

“In an attempt to find the most suitable technology, which results in the greatest possible benefit for the customer, first pilot machines were equipped with remote data collection and evaluation systems.

“Utilising a combination of edge computing and a proprietary azure-based platform established by Tenova, TAKRAF is able to develop applications that provide valuable insights of the company’s machines through modern and intuitive interfaces across any remote location.

“First results evince that this information can greatly assist in reducing downtime by identifying problems before they escalate into major issues and optimizing machine design, operation and performance.”

Implementation of more advanced analytics and machine learning strategies are currently on the company’s R&D agenda, TAKRAF said. “In addition, remote support solutions can also be offered.”

The company said: “This enables a remote experts-team to provide on-site assistance to the local commissioning or maintenance personnel using smart glasses and an appropriate software tool.

This is a great solution for reducing reaction times and as a side effect for reducing or even avoiding costs for expensive and time-consuming trips to the destination area.”

The company’s stand will be located in hall C2, stand 349 at Messe München in Munich, Germany, during the event.