Pilanda Watkins-Curry – Treating Brine Waste

Through her work with Olokun Minerals, Pilanda Watkins-Curry is developing a sustainable process to recover minerals from wastewater streams to increase the supply of lithium, magnesium, and other clean energy sources.

The process requires fewer chemicals, less water, and lower energy consumption compared with other methods.

Pilanda Watkins-Curry

Olokun Minerals

Watkins-Curry is the co-founder and chief technology officer of Olokun Minerals, which seeks to solve global clean water security by capturing brine waste before it is discharged into the ocean and providing treatment services for desalination, oilfields, mining facilities, and industrial wastewater.

During West Gate, Watkins-Curry will develop her downstream goal of extracting minerals for critical supply chains, starting with lithium for battery materials.

Although there are several methods for mining energy sources, some—including hydrometallurgy and direct lithium extraction—require the use of chemicals. In addition to potential harm—the use of hydrochloric acid in direct lithium extraction, for example, makes it difficult to recover pure minerals—chemical processing can be energy intensive, with hydrometallurgy requiring sulfuric acid and a long evaporation process to ultimately create lithium carbonite for batteries.

Olokun Minerals' process aims to provide global clean water security and a reliable supply of critical minerals like lithium and magnesium to help the United States become more energy independent in its transition to renewable energy sources.

Olokun Minerals' recovery process is solving two big climate problems:

1. Diverting harmful waste from the aquatic ecosystem
2. Securing critical minerals for the clean energy transition.

It aims to do this by employing a green mineral recovery process without harmful chemicals and energy-intensive processes.

Olokun Minerals' recovery process incorporates a novel fractionation step that can selectively recover lithium with recovery rates of 75% or higher and purity rates of 90% or higher with the lowest chemical footprint, reduced times, lowest water usage, and improved energy consumption. Olokun Minerals' technology can recover additional impurities like calcium, magnesium, and sodium, providing flexibility in the process.

Status

Bench scale

Industry

Critical minerals

Potential Markets

• Lithium-rich brines (Salton Sea in California, Smackover in Arkansas, Lithium Triangle in South America)
• Oil and gas process waters in the United States
• Brines from desalination and mining waste

Looking For

• Industry mentors
• Funding
• Strategic partnerships
• Customer identification
• Subject matter experts
• Employment referrals
• Space (office/lab) recommendations