Completion of LiSTie Bench Plant Demonstration Unit for Low Environmental Impact, High Purity, and High Efficiency Lithium Recovery and Recycling

LiSTie Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Rokkasho-mura, Kamikita-gun, Aomori Prefecture, Representative: Tsuyoshi Hoshino, hereinafter referred to as "LiSTie") is pleased to announce the completion of a bench plant demonstration unit for its ultra-high purity lithium recovery technology (LiSMIC). This technology enables the direct recovery of ultra-high purity 99.99% lithium hydroxide, meeting the raw material specifications for lithium-ion batteries, from various lithium sources such as used lithium-ion batteries, salt lakes, and ores.

This bench plant demonstration unit consists of a pre-treatment process to adjust used refractories into a solution optimal for LiSMIC, and the LiSMIC process to recover ultra-high purity lithium from the solution. The equipment is capable of 24-hour continuous operation (Figure 1). Following final adjustments within LiSTie, a joint research demonstration test with TYK Corporation, a comprehensive manufacturer of refractories and new materials, will commence in May 2026, recovering lithium hydroxide at a rate of 1.5 kg/day.

Furthermore, this bench plant demonstration unit is applicable to the recycling of used lithium-ion batteries, with an estimated manufacturing cost for lithium hydroxide of 500 yen/kg, significantly below the market price (2,500 yen/kg as of December 2025).

Moving forward, we plan to develop a 40-foot (approximately 12m) container-sized lithium recovery device, the "LiSMIC Unit" (Figure 2), with an enhanced production capacity of 570 tons of lithium hydroxide per year. We aim to expand sales by selling these units to salt lake and mining sites, and by selling recycled lithium.

Through the global deployment of LiSMIC, a low environmental impact technology that uses no chemicals, including in the pre-treatment process, LiSTie will contribute to the security of energy resources.

Features of the Proprietary LiSMIC Technology

Our technology, LiSMIC (Li Separation Method by Ionic Conductor) (Figure 3), utilizes an ionic conductor, a ceramic plate, as a lithium separation membrane. This enables the stable procurement and recycling (circulation) of finite lithium resources, which has been difficult until now, to become established in the market.

The first feature of this technology is its ability to directly recover lithium hydroxide, a raw material for lithium-ion batteries (LIB), using only a single membrane, eliminating the previous reliance on China for purification. The second feature is that it impacts LIB performance...