SLB touts breakthrough in recovering lithium for batteries

SLB (NYSE:SLB) on Tuesday said results from a lithium project show that the oilfield-services provider can one day process the metal for batteries at a commercial scale with less environmental impact.

The company recovered 96% of the lithium from brine at a Nevada plant that’s about one-tenth the size of a commercial facility, describing the results in a statement as a “technical milestone.” Its proprietary technology uses what’s known as direct lithium extraction to produce the metal 500 times faster in a smaller area than conventional evaporation methods.

SLB (SLB) shares fell 2.2% on Tuesday, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index (SP500) was little changed.

SLB (SLB) is among the oil companies that seek to apply their know-how with subsurface fluids to improve technologies to extract lithium from salty water. The process could potentially supplement mines and evaporation ponds.