A Dutch consortium involving Nobian, Back to Battery, the University of Twente and Demcon Suster has launched the LiSA project to develop a lower-energy route for producing battery-grade lithium materials.
The initiative has secured a €2 million grant from the Dutch government and will test Nobian’s salt-assisted crystallisation technology. The process is designed to convert lithium chloride directly into battery-grade materials, potentially removing several intermediate processing steps used in conventional lithium refining.
Pilot combines geothermal and recycled feedstocks
The LiSA process could use lithium chloride derived from European geothermal brines and recycled batteries. This would connect primary lithium extraction with recovery of lithium from end-of-life battery materials. The development addresses the differing chemical characteristics of lithium intermediates produced by European projects and the tightly controlled specifications required by cathode-material manufacturers.
The proposed process could reduce energy consumption and the number of purification stages between lithium extraction and finished battery material. It could also provide a domestic processing route for recycled lithium chloride that might otherwise require additional treatment or export.
Technical parameters remain under evaluation
LiSA is currently at the pilot stage. The consortium has not disclosed annual production capacity, recovery targets, product-purity specifications, operating costs or the size of any future demonstration facility. The salt-assisted crystallisation process will need to demonstrate consistent control of impurities including sodium, calcium, magnesium and transition metals across variable geothermal and recycled feedstocks.
Commercial development will also depend on reagent requirements, waste-salt management and integration with existing chemical facilities. Following successful pilot testing, the process would require engineering scale-up, qualification of the resulting material by cathode producers and reliable supplies of lithium chloride. The €2 million grant is intended for process testing and validation rather than construction of an industrial-scale refinery. The consortium is using the pilot to evaluate the technical feasibility of a shorter lithium-processing route within Europe.
