Maximizing Lithium Recovery with RecovOAR™

Maximizing Lithium Recovery with RecovOAR™ Solution for China’s Critical Minerals Sector

A leading lithium producer in Qinghai, China sought to improve lithium recovery while reducing reliance on extensive evaporation ponds traditionally used to concentrate brine. FTS H2O provided its RecovOAR™ OARO-based technology to concentrate high-salinity streams beyond 250 g/L TDS, creating a more efficient path to lithium carbonate production. The solution enabled production of approximately 4 tons per hour of lithium carbonate while eliminating the need for roughly 10 km² of evaporation ponds, helping maximize recovery and meet stringent purity requirements.

At A Glance

Location: Qinghai, China

Industry: Critical Minerals & Mining

Solution: RecovOAR™

End-User: Lithium Producer

Challenge

As demand for battery-grade lithium continues to grow, producers face increasing pressure to maximize resource recovery while meeting stringent product purity requirements. A leading lithium manufacturer in Qinghai, China, operating in the environmentally-sensitive Tibetan Plateau region, relied on traditional evaporation ponds to concentrate lithium-rich brines. While widely used, this approach requires significant land area, long residence times, and favorable climatic conditions, limiting operational flexibility and overall lithium recovery efficiency. In addition, large brine volumes and complex water chemistries created challenges in producing the concentrated feed streams needed for downstream lithium carbonate production.

Solution

Aquatech’s FTS H2O implemented RecovOAR™, its high-recovery RO technology, to support the high purity requirements of lithium extraction and to establish a scalable, sustainable model for efficient lithium recovery. RecovOAR™ is a low-energy, membrane-based full flowsheet solution engineered to produce high-concentration, high-purity brine from challenging, high-salinity feed streams.

Process

Lithium-bearing brine is first treated with nanofiltration to remove hardness, sulfate, and other scaling constituents that can interfere with downstream processing. The pretreated stream is then concentrated using RecovOAR™ to significantly increase lithium concentration while reducing overall brine volume, creating an optimized feed for lithium extraction and refining. By extending membrane desalination into higher salinity ranges, RecovOAR™ minimizes the need for evaporation ponds while enabling greater lithium recovery from complex brine resources. Unlike conventional thermal evaporation systems that require substantial steam consumption, RecovOAR™ operates with significantly lower energy demand, reducing both CAPEX and OPEX. The result is a cost-effective and sustainable solution for lithium resource recovery, brine concentration, and advanced water management in battery minerals production.

Result

The system produced 4 tons per hour of lithium carbonate while avoiding ~10km2 of evaporation ponds, providing a more compact and scalable alternative to conventional recovery methods.

RecovOAR™ concentrates lithium-rich brines to >250 g/L TDS, enabling efficient downstream lithium extraction and refining while reducing dependence on large evaporation ponds. The technology helps maximize lithium recovery, reduce land requirements, and provide a more compact and scalable concentration process.