Project title: Lithium recovery and battery-grade materials production from European resources
Funding programme: Horizon Europe
Action type: Research & Innovation Action (RIA)
Duration: 01/10/2022 – 23/09/2026
Overview of the LiCORNE project
The LiCORNE project will allow European Li to be mined, processed, and refined in the EU at a competitive cost and environmentally friendly way, and in the vicinity of gigafactories, securing therefore materials supply and reducing the cost of transport and associated GHG emissions. Moreover, the impact of the project will benefit not only Europe, but the entire world. Due to the expected knowledge generated, project partners secure a pathway to become global leaders in processing and refining low-grade deposits from different sources and to licence their technologies and foregrounds to other companies in Europe but also overseas.
The consortium will research, develop and upscale (to TRL5) innovative, sustainable and cost-efficient technologies for producing battery-grade Li-chemicals from ores (pegmatites), brines (continental, geothermal), tailings and off-specifications cathode material (with the recycling of Co and Ni from the latter feedstock).
Project objectives
- Develop beneficiation technologies to TRL4 to increase the Li concentration in pegmatite ores so that about 15% of gangue could be prevented from entering the downstream process reducing energy and reagents.
- Develop technologies to TRL4 aiming at physico-chemical transformation of Lipegmatite concentrates to facilitate the downstream process and reduce drastically the energy and reagents.
- Develop technologies to TRL4 for the efficient extraction of Li contained in pegmatite concentrates and of Li, Co and Ni from cathode waste.
Develop technologies to TRL4 for the separation and purification of Li from leachates and brines. - Develop technologies to TRL4 for the recovery of Li as battery-grade chemicals.
- Benchmark the different investigated technologies and upscale the most promising ones to TRL5 and validate their performance.
- Communicate about the project’s activities in an effective way. Disseminate and exploit the project’s results.
Our involvement in the LiCORNE project
Within the LiCORNE project, PNO Innovation Belgium leads the development and implementation of the dissemination, communication and clustering strategy. In addition, PNO is also a key contributor in shaping the stakeholders engagement and exploitation tactics of the project. A particular focus is placed on identifying and engaging with relevant stakeholders for further exploitation activities, as well as market and business analysis to support the consortium into bringing the technologies available.
