SANTIAGO, Chile, Oct. 30, 2025 /PRNewswire/ – Summit Nanotech Corporation (“Summit”) today announced a major milestone in water efficiency for lithium extraction, reinforcing its position as a global leader in sustainable direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. The announcement follows a series of strategic developments that have accelerated Summit’s commercial readiness:
- Successful DLE field demonstration at Albemarle’s site in Northern Chile
- Launch of its in-house demonstration facility in Santiago to validate commercial designs more efficiently
- Data from its reliability engineering program validating sorbent durability and lifespan
Benchmark DLE Water Use
Independent validation confirmed that Summit’s process uses approximately 30% less freshwater than evaporation ponds and 50% less than commercial DLE benchmarks, while maintaining high lithium recovery and product quality.
Its process has delivered consistent performance across commercially viable lithium brine assets in the US, Argentina, and Chile:
- Lithium Recovery: 96-99%
- Impurity Rejection: 96-99%
- DLE Specific Water Use: 5-17m3/tLCE
- Li:TDS Ratio: 0.10 – 0.12
This significant advancement in freshwater usage is enabled by Summit’s proprietary flow sequencing method, which requires benchmark low make-up water compared with evaporation ponds and all other DLEs, including the most advanced ion exchange (IX) platforms. This further enables the addition of closed-loop recovery systems in its commercial plant designs, eliminating the need for external water inputs in a Lithium Chloride plant.
“After more than 25 years observing lithium operations and process developments across the world, I can say that Summit has crossed a critical threshold in direct lithium extraction”, said José de Castro, Chemical Engineer and Independent Industry Advisor at Minería Positiva (MP+). “Achieving both exceptionally high recovery and ultra-low water consumption is an extraordinary milestone — one rarely seen in combination. This places Summit among the most advanced DLE technologies globally, and very likely at the forefront of the field.”
About Summit Nanotech
Summit is setting the pace for DLE, consistently outperforming alternatives in reliability, efficiency, and economics. Its modular system and high-performance sorbent, engineered in North America, produce high-purity lithium from brines in Chile, Argentina, and the United States, with industry-leading water efficiency.
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SOURCE Summit Nanotech
