Watercycle Technologies has commissioned its first commercially operating Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) plant in Runcorn, marking the first commercial deployment of this technology in Europe.
Dr Seb Leaper - CEO and Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim - CTO. Image Credit: Watercycle Technologies
The company has scaled up its proprietary DLECTM technology to profitably produce hundreds of kilograms of lithium carbonate from UK sources on a continual basis, far exceeding the quantities currently achieved by competing DLE technologies.
The process represents a different category of DLE compared to conventional ion-exchange or adsorption processes. Following extensive testing on lithium sources from around the world, including the UK, Watercycle has delivered a long-anticipated solution capable of operating on both subsurface brines and industrial wastewater streams, including those arising from chemicals processing and the battery recycling sector. This offers a fully circular and commercially viable pathway to securing one of the world’s most critical materials.
Watercycle CEO Dr Seb Leaper said: “Direct lithium extraction has long been tipped as a breakthrough solution to the emerging lithium supply crisis, but no available technology has addressed the three key challenges of water consumption, energy consumption and cost - until now. We have spent the last three years perfecting a process that operates on every brine type we have tested, including low-lithium geothermal brines, saturated South American brines and organics-laden industrial wastewaters. This positions us not only to offer lithium resource owners a profitable and de-risked technological solution, but also to support the emerging battery recycling industry in delivering zero-waste processes with superior lithium recoveries.”
Watercycle Technologies’ Runcorn plant is currently producing enough lithium carbonate equivalent to support the manufacture of 50 mid-sized electric cars per month, with output expected to increase substantially throughout 2026 as additional modular systems are deployed around the UK and internationally. This represents a step towards achieving the UK Government’s Critical Minerals Strategy targets of securing at least 10 % of annual UK critical minerals demand through domestic production and 20 % through recycling by 2035.
“Our purpose is clear”, said Seb, “to secure access to critical resources for all. We do this by thinking in terms of supply loops instead of supply chains, which feeds into our low-impact and circular design ethos. While resources like lithium are finite, they can be recycled infinitely, with the right technology. I am proud that our team, backed by our supportive investors, has created something that enables us to turn finite resources into infinite resources and that we are now doing it now at scale in the UK.’
Commenting, Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim, Watercycle Chief Technology Officer, said “Our DLECTM technology is designed to deliver both a scalable and sustainable solution. By opening the UK’s first commercial DLE plant, we are not only contributing to the national target of 50,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent by 2035 but also positioning Britain as one of Europe’s earliest leaders in this field. This is about more than lithium, it’s about building economic resilience, creating skilled jobs and ensuring that the UK and Europe can meet the demands of the energy transition with confidence.”