Producing Lithium from UK Granites; A unique process for producing battery grade lithium from micaceous granite in UK

从英国花岗岩生产锂；

• 批准号: 53215
• 金额: $ 44.58万
• 依托单位: RESEARCH BY BRITISH LITHIUM LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Study
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=53215
• 关键词: Producing; Lithium; UK; Granites; unique

Our goal is to establish in UK the world's first quarry and refinery producing battery grade lithium chemicals from unconventional lithium-mica granites, using our sustainable, novel technology.BLL was the first company to drill granites for lithium in UK and discovered a substantial lithium-mica-granite deposit in Cornwall, and first to begin research and development. We have developed proprietary technology for separating mica from the granite and extracting lithium from that mica. This Project is designed to prove the technical and economic feasibility of commercialising our technology to the level required to de-risk the project and attract commercial funding.Over the past two years we have drilled out millions of tonnes of lithium mica granite, completed hundreds of metallurgical tests and thousands of assays demonstrating the potential of our extraction technology to produce a high-grade mica concentrate and to extract battery grade lithium from that mica.Lithium has never been produced commercially from granite, so there is no state-of-the-art process. Earlier, largely academic work proposed froth flotation and sulphuric acid leaching which would produce millions of tonnes of contaminated residues. BLL's novel beneficiation and refining process doesn't require toxic chemicals for beneficiation or leaching, potentially offering the lowest environmental footprint of any world lithium producer.European governments have mandated the switch from hydrocarbons to electric mobility. Lithium-ion batteries are essential for this transition, yet no battery grade lithium is produced in Europe. China dominates technology for production of lithium, cells and batteries.In 2018 Britain produced 1.5m cars, employing 823,000 people producing revenue of £82 billion (_Society of Motor Manufacturers_ 2019). With the sale of internal combustion vehicles prohibited in UK from 2035, this industry will be lost if not transitioned to Electric Vehicles (EVs). Illustratively, the first EV designed in UK (Jaguar's I-Pace) is made in Austria, with its Polish batteries accounting for 40% of its cost. Even the iconic British Mini Electric uses drive trains and batteries made in China.Carmakers co-locate with battery makers -- witness the world's largest EV maker Tesla building lithium-ion cells, batteries and cars under one roof. Without _Gigafactories_ (large lithium-ion battery plants) the UK could lose its car industry. Recent coronavirus shutdowns further highlight the risks of long supply chains.We offer potential UK battery and EV makers a competitive advantage over Europe with UK's only delineated lithium Resource and the potential to be the first high quality lithium chemical producer in Europe.

我们的目标是在英国建立世界上第一家利用我们的可持续发展的新技术从非常规锂云母花岗岩中生产电池级锂化学品的采石场和炼油厂。BLL是英国第一家在花岗岩中钻探锂的公司，在康沃尔郡发现了大量的锂云母花岗岩存款，并首先开始开始研究和开发。我们开发了专有技术，从花岗岩中分离云母，并从云母中提取锂。该项目旨在证明将我们的技术商业化的技术和经济可行性，以降低项目风险并吸引商业资金。在过去的两年中，我们已经钻探了数百万吨锂云母花岗岩，完成了数百项冶金测试和数千项分析，证明了我们的提取技术具有生产高-锂从未从花岗岩中商业化生产，因此没有最先进的工艺。早些时候，主要是学术工作提出了泡沫浮选和硫酸浸出，这将产生数百万吨的污染残留物。BLL的新型蒸馏和精炼工艺不需要有毒化学品进行蒸馏或浸出，可能是世界上任何锂生产商中环境足迹最低的。欧洲政府已强制要求从碳氢化合物转向电动汽车。锂离子电池对于这一转变至关重要，但欧洲没有生产电池级锂。中国主导着锂、电池和电池的生产技术。2018年，英国生产了150万辆汽车，雇佣了82.3万人，创造了820亿英镑的收入（_汽车制造商协会_ 2019）。随着英国从2035年起禁止内燃机汽车的销售，如果不过渡到电动汽车（EV），这个行业将失去。例如，英国设计的第一辆电动汽车（捷豹的I-Pace）是在奥地利制造的，其波兰电池占其成本的40%。就连英国标志性的Mini Electric也使用中国制造的传动系统和电池。汽车制造商与电池制造商在同一地点生产--全球最大的电动汽车制造商特斯拉（Tesla）就在同一屋檐下生产锂离子电池、电池和汽车。如果没有Gigafactories（大型锂离子电池工厂），英国可能会失去汽车工业。最近的冠状病毒停产进一步凸显了长供应链的风险。我们为潜在的英国电池和电动汽车制造商提供了相对于欧洲的竞争优势，英国唯一划定的锂资源和成为欧洲第一家高质量锂化学品生产商的潜力。