Exxon Mobil Corp XOM closed up another successful year, delivering $36 billion in earnings.
Despite its global oil success, Exxon recognizes the inevitability of energy transition, leading them to roll out a lithium operation in Arkansas.
Mobil Lithium, through a bold venture by Exxon, plans to produce lithium for one million electric vehicles yearly by 2030. This ambitious plan commences with the selection of lithium filtration technology, including unproven direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, which the company is painstakingly testing at a pilot plant in Houston.
At the ongoing Arkansas Lithium Innovation Summit in Little Rock, Patrick Howarth, head of Exxon’s lithium business, shed light on the company’s approach, “DLE is a small part of a really complicated process that has many different steps. We’re really focused on how do they interact with one another,” before an eager audience comprising over 600 energy sector executives, policymakers, and stakeholders.
The direct lithium extraction method, which involves filtering lithium directly from brine without traditional evaporation ponds, is a key focus for Exxon. This innovative approach promises more cost-effective and environmentally responsible lithium production than conventional methods.
“This could be a big boom for our state,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders conveyed to Reuters.
Environmental responsibility is the focus of local policymakers who support Exxon’s aspiration to make Arkansas the epicenter of the domestic lithium industry.
“There are plenty of reasons for us to be bullish on Arkansas lithium. Frankly, we can do it cleaner here than it’s produced anywhere else in the world. No strip mining or huge evaporation ponds. Just wells that extract brine straight out of the ground. We can ensure America has a supply of this critical material, almost all of which currently comes from overseas, in large part from our number one adversary,” Sanders highlighted.
Exxon is collaborating with Tetra Technologies TTI, an industry leader with patented technology for bromine production. The successful large-scale application of DLE technology would be a significant victory for Arkansas and a leap forward in Exxon’s diversification efforts.
