Aquatech has announced a major milestone in North American lithium production, confirming it will supply the largest-ever direct lithium extraction (DLE) unit on the continent for Prairie Lithium’s Saskatchewan project.

 

The deployment targets Prairie Lithium’s 4.6 million tonnes LCE resource base in Canada and will use Aquatech’s Li-Pro Lithium Selective Sorption (LSS) under its PEARL technology licensing platform to produce a highly purified lithium chloride stream.

 

A modular Quadpod system—built around four full-scale Li-Pro columns—will be delivered to the site in summer 2026. The installation marks one of the first large-scale modular lithium processing deployments of its kind in the region.

 

Aquatech says its Li-Pro LSS technology has already been validated at industrial scale, with more than 15,000 extraction cycles over four years and over 1 million barrels of Arkansas Smackover brine processed.

 

“This collaboration is designed to accelerate Prairie Lithium's path to commercial production.” said Manish Backliwal, Senior Director at Aquatech. 

 

“Aquatech's contribution to the project will support Prairie Lithium through an integrated approach that combines process expertise, modular deployment capability, and DLE project execution support.”

 

Prairie Lithium framed the project as a key step toward commercialization at scale in North America’s lithium sector.

 

“The installation of a commercial-scale Li-Pro unit at our facility in Saskatchewan represents an important step toward demonstrating the project's commercial viability. This is a significant milestone for the lithium industry as we look to commission one of the largest DLE facilities globally with Aquatech,” said Zach Maurer, Executive Director at Prairie Lithium.

 

Aquatech, which reports more than 100,000 tons per year of lithium projects under execution globally, positions its PEARL platform as an end-to-end solution combining extraction, refining, modular design, and digital optimization to reduce cost, risk, and deployment time for battery-grade lithium production.

 

Prairie Lithium’s Saskatchewan project benefits from strong infrastructure access and is designed with reduced freshwater use, land footprint, and waste generation in line with its sustainability targets.