Chile's AMTC Lithium Water Recovery Technology Granted Patent in Argentina

en.Wedoany.com Reported - The LiSa® lithium water recovery technology, developed by the Advanced Mining Technology Center (AMTC) of the Universidad de Chile in collaboration with the Università della Calabria, Italy, has been granted a patent in Argentina. This technology concentrates and purifies lithium brine through membrane processes while recovering high-quality fresh water.

This Argentine patent represents the latest milestone for LiSa®, following its Chilean patent and registered trademark obtained in 2024, and has been incorporated into AMTC's intellectual property and technology transfer strategy. The LiSa® project has received support from Chile's National Agency for Research and Development (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, ANID), under project numbers Fondef I+D – ID20I10103 and Fondef IT- IT23I0004. The process offers an alternative route to traditional solar evaporation ponds and Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) processes, enabling the recovery of fresh water from within the brine itself without relying on external water sources.

The process uses membrane crystallization to fractionate the brine, producing concentrated lithium brine while recovering its water content. According to the Argentine patent document, approximately 95% of the water can be recovered as fresh water, with the remaining 5% being dilute brine, and no fresh water is lost to evaporation.

Humberto Estay, Director of AMTC and lead researcher of this study, stated that LiSa® concentrates and purifies brine while recovering high-quality water, allowing the production process to operate using water contained within the brine itself, without the need to draw on external fresh water sources.

The development of LiSa® began in 2018, and the technology has currently reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7, meaning the system has been validated through pilot-scale testing under conditions close to real-world operation. The pilot site is located in Tierra Amarilla, Atacama Region, using real brine from the Maricunga Salt Flat. In laboratory tests, the process achieved water recovery rates exceeding 90%. Estay noted that the pilot results replicated laboratory performance and water quality, and that the team also successfully controlled crystallization within the membrane modules—one of the process's main technical challenges.

Estay indicated that LiSa® can be integrated with DLE technologies as well as with conventional processes, given its ability to recover water from highly complex brines.

Victoria Villarroel, AMTC's Technology Transfer Manager, pointed out that Argentina is one of the world's leading lithium producers, and obtaining a patent for LiSa® in the country helps connect the technology with potential users and technology partners, while also demonstrating progress in the protection and transfer of technologies developed from applied research.

LiSa® currently holds patent protection and registered trademarks in both Chile and Argentina, and the team continues to advance new development stages. Villarroel stated that the next phase is to advance technology transfer toward potential industrial users; this new patent strengthens that process and demonstrates that technologies developed from Chilean applied research, with public funding support and industry collaboration, can become solutions with potential for lithium production applications.