Posted on 03 Dec 2025
US company LibertyStream Infrastructure Partners said Monday it has started producing lithium carbonate from oilfield brine in the Permian Basin, Texas, Kallanish reports.
LibertyStream will now move to producing batches for third-party laboratory testing and validation, as well as for customer testing and qualification, after which it will start negotiating offtake deals. The plan is to ship commercial volumes to customers by 2027, while all lithium carbonate produced in the interim will be sold on the spot market, outside of customer sampling.
In partnership with an unnamed “major operator,” the group is operating an automated continuous flow refining unit that processes water at the disposal well site. The site is expected to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide monohydrate using LibertyStream’s direct lithium extraction technology.
The system can process up to 10,000 barrels/day of oilfield brine into a lithium chloride eluate. LibertyStream says it has processed more than 350,000 barrels of brine and conducted over 2,500 real-time validation tests since last February.
In Q3 2025, the company started field unit installation at a separate site in the Bakken formation in North Dakota, which is projected to have a capacity of 50,000 tonnes/year of lithium carbonate equivalent. LibertyStream says it will supply domestic industrial customers and defence contractors.
Several players are looking at lithium production from oilfield brine in the US, including oil and gas majors trying to diversify their operations amid the energy transition. Most of the work is conducted across the Smackover Formation, which is estimated to hold between five and 19 million t of lithium.
Source:Kallanish
