UT-Battelle, LLC and All American Lithium LLC have secured a major milestone in the mining industry with a newly patented composite for direct lithium extraction. This innovation focuses on a recently awarded patent titled ‘Lithium extraction composite for recovery of lithium from brines, and process of using said composition’. The patent describes a lithium extraction composite comprising: (i) a porous support and (ii) particles of a lithium-selective sorbent material coated on at least one surface of the support, wherein the support has a planar membrane, fiber (or rod), or tubular shape. A method for extracting and recovering a lithium salt from an aqueous solution by use of the above-described composition is also described, the method comprising (a) flowing the aqueous source solution through a first zone or over a first surface of the lithium extraction composite to result in selective lithium intercalation in the lithium-selective sorbent material in the first zone or first surface; and (b) simultaneously recovering lithium salt extracted in step (a) from said lithium-selective sorbent material by flowing an aqueous stripping solution through a second zone or over a second surface of the lithium extraction composite in which lithium ions from the first zone or first surface diffuse.
Award-Winning Outstanding Invention
This groundbreaking technology has proudly won Swanson Reed’s Patent of the Month in the Mining industry for January 2026. It was selected for this prestigious recognition because it represents an outstanding invention that significantly advances the efficiency, scalability, and commercial viability of lithium recovery from complex brine sources.
Meeting the U.S. R&D Tax Credit Rules
To qualify for the Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credit in the United States, applied research and development activities surrounding this patent must pass the IRS Four-Part Test. The development and implementation of this composite technology align with these rules in the following ways:
- Permitted Purpose: The core research aims to create a new or improved industrial process (a continuous flow extraction method) that increases the performance, efficiency, and yield of lithium recovery compared to traditional, time-consuming evaporation ponds.
- Technological in Nature: The development fundamentally relies on the principles of hard sciences, specifically materials science, chemistry, and fluid dynamics.
- Elimination of Uncertainty: Engineering this composite requires eliminating technical uncertainties regarding the optimal porous support structure, the durability of the sorbent coating under continuous flow, and the exact fluid dynamics required for maximum intercalation.
- Process of Experimentation: Engineers and scientists systematically test and evaluate different structural shapes (planar membrane, fiber, rod, or tubular) and multiple aqueous stripping solutions through trial, error, simulation, and modeling to achieve the most efficient design.
3 Practical Applications That Could Meet R&D Tax Credit Rules
- Scale-Up and Flow Optimization Prototyping: Designing, building, and testing a commercial-scale pilot plant utilizing the tubular composite shape. The qualified R&D involves experimenting with various flow rates and pressures of both the aqueous source solution (raw brine) and the aqueous stripping solution to maximize continuous selective lithium intercalation without degrading the sorbent material over time.
- Sorbent Coating Adhesion Testing Under Extreme Conditions: Conducting iterative testing and chemical analysis to permanently bond the lithium-selective sorbent particles onto the porous support. The experimentation process involves varying chemical binding techniques and subjecting the prototype composite to high-temperature, highly corrosive geothermal brines to eliminate uncertainties regarding the material’s lifespan and chemical stability in harsh mining environments.
- Aqueous Stripping Solution Formulation Development: Researching, formulating, and systematically testing alternative chemical compositions for the aqueous stripping solution. The technical uncertainty involves finding an exact chemical balance that rapidly strips the diffused lithium ions from the second zone of the composite while actively preventing scaling, fouling, or cross-contamination from other heavy metals present in the initial brine source.
