Aquatech's PEARL Technology Platform Enables 20% Reduction in Cost of Lithium Production

CANONSBURG, Pa., June 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As lithium developers face increasing pressure to reduce capital intensity, bring down operating costs, and deliver projects with greater certainty, Aquatech today announced a step-change for the lithium industry, addressing the structural constraints limiting large-scale lithium deployment.

Aquatech's PEARL™ technology platform is a proven end-to-end approach to lithium processing, combining full flowsheet optimization, modular delivery, and lifecycle performance management. PEARL™ enables a >20% reduction in total capital and operating costs relative to conventional pathways, while providing cost and schedule certainty and long-term operational reliability, and replaces fragmented, multi-vendor delivery models with a unified approach. The platform reduces interface risk, improves execution certainty, and establishes a repeatable pathway to scale.

With over 100,000 tons per year of lithium capacity under execution across the Americas, Aquatech continues to support resource owners in transitioning to a standardized, scalable delivery model that reduces risk and improves capital efficiency.

"After listening to our customers and other stakeholders, it was clear to us that developers and resource owners need a toolkit to get from brine to battery-grade lithium. We created the PEARL platform to address the core challenges of high cost, technology performance risk, and cost and schedule certainty," said Venkee Sharma, Executive Chairman at Aquatech. "We believe PEARL is a game changer for accelerating lithium production"

At the core of the PEARL platform is a modular architecture that spans the full project lifecycle consisting of five core services:

• PEARL™ Origin: Resource treatability assessment to accelerate investment-grade feasibility.
• PEARL™ Core: A fully integrated lithium processing flowsheet including critical equipment and DLE media, backed by license and guarantees.
• PEARL™ Train: Factory-manufactured lithium processing modules, supporting compressed project schedules and reducing installation cost.
• PEARL™ Pure: Continuous operational support, including media, membranes, and consumables supply supporting product purity and lithium recovery over the life of the facility.
• PEARL™ Vision: Continuous operational intelligence utilizing advanced sensing & AI-based digital twins to improve recovery, uptime, and lifecycle efficiency.

By removing the barriers of high project cost and technology performance risk, PEARL™ provides resource owners and developers with a clear pathway to delivering battery-grade lithium from any brine resource.

About Aquatech

With over 100,000 tons per year of lithium and critical minerals processing capacity under execution globally, Aquatech's commitment to technology leadership and performance excellence is powering the electrification of the global economy. Our PEARL™ technology licensing platform powers battery-grade lithium production through direct lithium extraction, refining and purification, process design, modular execution, and digital optimization to create a comprehensive processing solution.

Acting as a single accountable partner, Aquatech enables resource owners to deliver battery-grade lithium with confidence, while bringing down total installation cost, process risk, and time to market. Aquatech brings over 45 years of experience solving complex water and process challenges to enable reliable delivery for critical minerals and lithium processing.

SOURCE Aquatech