Technology
denaLi™ is engineered for better unit economics and a lighter environmental footprint.
$1-2K
Reduction per tonne LCE
Summit’s sorbent performance drives significant reductions in capex/opex, lowering total levelized cost of lithium production over the full project lifecycle versus leading DLE benchmarks.
8X
Lower water intensity
Proprietary flow sequencing reduces freshwater intake to an industry low.
95%+
Validated uptime
2,600+ hours of field operation in Northern Chile, including autonomous overnight operation, validating denaLi™‘s industrial-grade availability.
What denaLi™ delivers
One unified solution
Sorbent, system, and modeling engineered as a single product, not stitched-together components.
Rapid, predictable ROI
Lower levelized cost across the full project lifecycle, with margins resilient to commodity-cycle swings.
Easy, scalable deployment
Standardized 5000 tpa modules can be deployed in parallel to match resource and market timing.
Field-proven
Process validated under real field conditions in northern Chile.
denaLi’s integrated system, sorbent, and predictive modeling architecture work together seamlessly to deliver the most reliable DLE solution on the market.
01
denaLi’s proprietary column sequencing delivers unparalleled purity, efficiency, and reliability in a modular system deployable to commercial scale.
Productivity.
High throughput allows denaLi™ to extract the most lithium with the least sorbent.
Efficiency.
Innovative column sequencing maximizes performance and unlocks a step change in water use.
Reliability.
Designed at both system and component levels to eliminate the failure modes inherent in other approaches.
Modularity.
Built in 5,000 tonne per year units, denaLi™ scales to deliver peak performance at any commercial project size.
02
Our proprietary eLivate™ sorbent technology delivers the industry’s best capacity and kinetics in the world’s first regenerable pellet.
Highest capacity.
Industry-leading lithium uptake per cycle delivers more lithium from every column.
Fastest kinetics.
Rapid adsorption and elution shorten cycle times, increase throughput, and enable column operations that drive high selectivity.
Durability.
Validated over 10,000 cycles with minimal degradation under accelerated mechanical and chemical stress conditions.
Regenerability.
Patent-pending regeneration process restores spent sorbent to full performance multiple times, extending asset life and reducing replacement costs.
Made in the USA.
Manufactured in North America with a blue-chip chemical partner.
03
denaLi’s digital twin technology optimizes to unique brine conditions for maximum lithium recovery and cost efficiency, creating the foundation for supervisory machine learning capabilities.
Parameter fitting.
Virtual testing of cycle times, flow rates, column configurations, and sorbent performance against variable brine conditions before hardware is deployed.
Process optimization.
Systematic identification of optimal process parameters to maximize lithium recovery while minimizing water and energy consumption.
Continuous model refinement.
Operational data from Summit’s physical systems feeds back into the platform, improving model fidelity with every run.
How we’re different
Summit has solved the challenges of sorbent DLE and innovated well beyond competitors.
denaLi™
denaLi™
Stage 1
Every denaLi™ deployment starts with the resource. Summit works with each client’s unique brine chemistry to define the right pre-treatment pathway and system configuration.
Lithium-bearing brine pumped from the client’s subsurface asset, whether South American salars or continental brines. Composition varies by geography, geology, and extraction method, and that variability drives downstream design decisions.
Stage 2
Summit’s denaLi™ DLE technology extracts lithium directly from brine using an advanced multi-column architecture that maximizes recovery while minimizing water and energy use. The system scales through standardized, modular units.
Every brine is different, and pre-treatment is where that variability gets handled. We work with producers to design a tailored scheme (managing suspended solids, problem ions, organics, and temperature conditioning) so the feed entering denaLi is optimized for sorbent performance, system uptime, and long-term equipment life.
Sets of 12+ commercial-height columns cycle continuously through alternating modes — adsorbing lithium from brine, then desorbing it into water. Summit’s proprietary flow sequencing keeps the system in steady-state production, delivering higher uptime and recovery consistency than conventional simulated moving bed (SMB) processes.
Our proprietary aluminum-based layered double hydroxide (Al-LDH) sorbent delivers the industry’s highest capacity and fastest kinetics, with >95% impurity rejection and minimal attrition under mechanical stress. Validated through 10,000+ accelerated cycles, eLivate has a projected commercial lifespan of 5 – 8 years and our patent-pending sorbent regeneration process extends service life without full replacement.
Raw extracted streams pass through an integrated downstream train: nanofiltration (NF) to reject residual divalent impurities, reverse osmosis (RO) to recover water for reuse, and mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) to concentrate the final stream. Summit treats extraction and concentration as one coupled system, resulting in a high-purity LiCl product delivered with industry-leading energy and water efficiency.
Our multi-physics modeling platform combines genetic-algorithm optimization with live data from Summit’s pilot and demonstration systems to tune denaLi to the chemistry of your specific brine. The result: faster commercial design timelines, fewer scale-up surprises, and a platform that improves with every deployment across the portfolio.
Stage 3
Downstream conversion transforms concentrated lithium chloride into a battery-grade product. This stage is managed by the client or a third-party converter and can be co-located with the DLE plant or operated at a separate facility.
Concentrated lithium chloride is converted to lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide. Summit’s high-purity DLE output simplifies conversion and reduces reagent costs.
The end product: battery-grade lithium carbonate or hydroxide ready for cathode manufacturing. Summit’s denaLi™ technology delivers the concentrated, low-impurity feedstock that makes efficient conversion possible.
Accelerate your path to commercial lithium production.
