Zangge Lithium Wins Second Prize of the Qinghai Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award

Recently, the Qinghai Provincial Science and Technology Awards Conference was grandly held. Golmud Zangge Lithium Co., Ltd. won the Second Prize of the 2024 Qinghai Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award for its project “Key Technology Research and Application of the ‘One-Step’ Process for Producing Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate from Ultra-Low-Concentration Lithium-Bearing Brine.” This honor signifies that Zangge Lithium’s innovative capabilities in the field of salt lake lithium extraction have been highly recognized, and further demonstrates that the company has risen to the ranks of global leaders in the development of ultra-low-grade lithium resources.

I. Breaking World-Class Challenges: The Pioneering “One-Step” Lithium Extraction Process

Zangge Lithium focused on the unique resource characteristics of Qarhan Salt Lake—“ultra-low lithium concentration (50 mg/L) and extremely high magnesium-to-lithium ratio (≥2000:1).” Targeting the bottlenecks faced by traditional processes in low-grade brine, the company spent years overcoming challenges and pioneered the “One-Step” lithium extraction process, which achieves high-efficiency conversion from brine to battery-grade lithium carbonate within only five hours, overturning the lengthy evaporation pond process of traditional methods.

Key Technical Breakthroughs:

World’s First High Magnesium-to-Lithium Ratio Extraction Technology

Achieved industrialization of lithium extraction from brine with ultra-high magnesium-to-lithium ratios (≥2000:1) and ultra-low lithium concentrations (20–50 mg/L), building a 10,000-ton production facility.

By selecting highly selective adsorbents and applying a continuous moving-bed adsorption process, the annual loss rate of adsorbents is controlled at only 5%, while overall investment in adsorption processes is reduced by more than 50%.

One-Step Synthesis of Battery-Grade Products

By precisely controlling the carbonation phase diagram, the process directly produces high-quality lithium carbonate meeting the Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate from Brine standard (GB/T 23853-2022), with purity above 99.7%, avoiding the need for secondary causticization treatment.

Digital Intelligent Production System

Adopting moving-bed continuous technology and fully digitalized process control, the workshops have basically achieved unmanned operation.

The adsorption recovery rate exceeds 90%, and the overall lithium recovery rate reaches over 80%, achieving industrial application three years ahead of similar advanced international technologies (e.g., U.S. DLE technologies).

II. Full-Chain Innovation by the R&D Team: Breakthroughs from Materials to Processes

The R&D team carried out a comprehensive innovation strategy across the full chain of “adsorption materials—process integration—intelligent control,” forming a complete technology loop from laboratory to industrialization.

Innovation in Adsorption Materials and Processes

High-selectivity adsorbents screening: For Qarhan Salt Lake’s water chemistry, aluminum-, manganese-, and titanium-based adsorbents with high capacity and low loss were selected. With combined physical and chemical adsorption, the annual adsorbent loss rate was controlled within 5%, significantly lowering costs compared to traditional processes.

Moving-bed continuous adsorption process: By optimizing the layout of adsorption column units, adsorbent consumption was reduced by over 60%, land use for a 10,000-ton facility was halved, and the number of valves and pipelines was reduced by 90%, greatly improving separation efficiency.

Process Integration and Smart Upgrades

“One-Step” process route: Integrating “moving-bed continuous adsorption + multi-stage membrane impurity removal and concentration (nanofiltration/reverse osmosis/electrodialysis) + MVR evaporation concentration,” the process enriches lithium concentration from 50 mg/L to 35 g/L, lowers the magnesium-to-lithium ratio to below 3:1, and produces battery-grade lithium carbonate within 5 hours.

Digital control system: A full-process digitalized control system was developed, basically achieving unmanned operation, reducing costs by more than 30%, and leading global technical-economic indicators.

III. Industrialization and Societal Impact: Data Demonstrates Value

Scale and Economic Benefits

The key technology of “One-Step Extraction of Battery-Grade Lithium Carbonate from Ultra-Low-Concentration Lithium Brine” has already been applied in projects such as the 50,000-ton-per-year battery-grade lithium carbonate project in Qinghai Qarhan and Tibet Mami Cuo. This has driven the transformation of salt lake lithium extraction from “resource bottlenecks” to “technology leadership.”

A 10,000-ton battery-grade lithium carbonate production facility has been built. In the past three years, it has achieved sales revenue of RMB 7.25 billion, added profit of RMB 5.04 billion, and tax contributions of RMB 1.66 billion.

International Recognition and Industry Impact

Expert evaluation organized by the Qinghai Provincial Department of Science and Technology concluded that the project results reached the “international leading level,” with no equivalent technologies reported domestically or abroad.

The technology broke through traditional industrial constraints, lowering the applicable lithium concentration limit for salt lake resource development from 150 mg/L to as low as 20 mg/L, redefining industry standards.

IV. Outlook: Technology Innovation Driving Industry Upgrades

With the pioneering spirit of “from zero to one,” Zangge Lithium’s R&D team has elevated China’s salt lake lithium extraction technology to the forefront of the world. Looking ahead, the company will continue to focus on process innovation and digital upgrades as key breakthroughs, driving the salt lake lithium extraction industry toward greener, smarter, and faster development. Efforts will be made to further improve lithium recovery rates and production efficiency, reduce energy consumption and costs, and achieve the goal of “zero-emission” green production.

At the same time, leveraging the opportunity of building Qinghai into a world-class salt lake industrial base, Zangge Lithium will promote the large-scale application of its technology in domestic and overseas salt lake resource development. By completing the full industrial chain from brine lithium extraction to battery materials, the company will unlock more “lithium opportunities” through technological innovation, and contribute “Zangge Power” to the construction of a “world-class salt lake industrial base.”