Dr. Eva Lain is the founder and CEO of Lain Tech, a company based in Madrid (Spain), implementing new technologies in the raw materials sector.
What is your company about?
Eva Lain: Lain Tech is a young company founded in 2019 working on R&D and industrial implementation of novel technologies, providing cutting edge solutions in the energy and raw materials sectors.
We are focused on green technology innovation, whilst also being competitive.
We have several lines of research, mainly focused on extending the value chain of fundamental raw materials, novel energy capture and storage methods and bioremediation of polluted environments.
Our foremost project is the E-LIXTM process, a hydrometallurgical method for the processing of metals essential for the energy transition such as copper, zinc, cobalt, nickel, lead and precious metals.
The process is a clean and cost-effective alternative to smelters that is industrially competitive for the first time. We are currently at industrial validation stage of the technology, having commissioned the first industrial plant of its kind at the mine of Riotinto, in Huelva, Spain, which we have been running for more than a year now.
I’ve also brought along some colleagues who work on relevant specific tasks in the company:
José Ángel Borrego: I am in charge of the management of European projects, and coordinating our work with other institutions: for example, we are planning to present our work to the European Commission.
Rocio Cordero Clemente: I am the environmental sustainability manager at Lain Tech, so I am in charge of understanding the environmental impacts and benefits of our technologies.
Can you explain kind of briefly what your process is, and how does it differ from traditional smelting methods for purifying metals?
Eva Lain: In broad terms, there are two main routes to process minerals in order to obtain the metals contained inside them.
You have the “hydro” way – hydrometallurgy, or dissolving the metals from minerals into a solution – and the “pyro” way – pyrometallurgy, otherwise called smelting, which uses intense heat to melt and separate the various elements inside the mineral.
Up to now, there hasn’t been a cost-effective hydrometallurgical process for “primary minerals,” despite the fact that these account for about 80% of the world’s reserves of metals such as copper and zinc, fundamental for the energy transition and modern life in general.
The remaining 20% are “secondary minerals” that have to some extent been exposed to air or water, allowing nature to do a bit of the processing work already. But primary minerals are basically untouched. This makes them very difficult to process chemically, which means very high operating costs if we wanted to use the same hydrometallurgy processes employed for secondary ores.
Smelters are thus the status quo for primary minerals, because although there are many hydrometallurgical methods that have been researched and developed, these have not been implemented at industrial scale because they’re just not economically competitive.
Our E-LIXTM process is the first hydrometallurgical method for high metal recoveries from primary sulphide minerals that is proven to be economically competitive and that has been implemented at an industrial scale, applicable across a broad range of primary ores.
Until recently, researchers only used very aggressive physical and chemical conditions: high pressures and temperatures, harsh and expensive reagents – or biological methods like bacteria, which tend to be quite slow and entail other associated problems.
Our method uses electricity, without aggressive physical or chemical conditions. Also, it works in a “closed circuit” so it has a very small water footprint. It’s genuinely different to what has been done until now.
It leverages the semiconductor properties of minerals, applying the minimum energy required to make them react. From a physics and chemistry standpoint, the energy used is close to the theoretical minimum necessary to extract the metal.
Our process could really be a game changer for the industry as it allows us to actually produce metals close to where the minerals are mined, in places where smelters are not an option.
For instance, in the case of the South of Spain and Portugal, mines produce metal concentrates that are generally exported out of Europe because smelters in Europe cannot process them due to environmental regulations. The concentrates can contain certain toxic elements such as arsenic, antimony, and mercury that are forbidden to process in Europe, and might also have a low amount of the desired metal itself.
These issues considerably limit the mineral reserves that are economically viable to extract, thereby reducing the life of mine or even overall viability of mining projects. One of the reasons why huge geological potentials remain untapped is that certain ores are unsuitable for smelting. Our technology is drastically less strict about input into the process, so you can be a lot more flexible about the types of ore that are mined.
Regarding environmental regulations for smelting in the EU, concentrates from the Pyrite Belt (south of Spain and Portugal) are considered too dirty, so they are generally transported to the port and then shipped to smelters, usually located in Asia. We then need to import the metal back again to Europe.
Our process cuts out all this transport and produces pure metal as the final product here in Europe, extending the value chain and thus guaranteeing Europe access to critical or fundamental raw materials. And we’re able to do that in an economically competitive and clean way.
Critical raw materials and economic competitiveness are very current topics – what impact might your technology have on the European economy?
Eva Lain: I believe our technology potentially could shake up the status quo and have an important impact on multiple levels. Firstly, by extending the value chain of critical raw materials such as copper here in Europe, E-LIX may have direct implications in terms of raw material security as well as competitiveness, sustainability and resilience in downstream and associated sectors, for instance energy.
Moreover, our technology allows regions with vast and diverse geological reserves, such as Andalucía in the south of Spain, to maximise their potential, which is currently somewhat untapped or limited due to constraints on project viability arising from smelter specifications. Our technology makes a lot of new mineral reserves viable, thereby extending the life of existing mines as well as potentially making new ventures possible.
In addition, by also doing the processing here in Europe, not just mining, our technology creates jobs: this is already a reality, especially in rural areas.
José Ángel Borrego: In terms of European initiatives, what we are doing aligns with the Critical Raw Materials Act, because one of the main points of this new act is to create and strengthen the whole production chain domestically. That is exactly what we are hoping to do – bring back a part of the production to, in our case, Spain. But it is scalable to other or industrial plants in other places in Europe and worldwide.
How about the environmental side? You mentioned it’s a green technology – does it produce any pollution or waste? And how does it compare to smelting?
Rocio Cordero Clemente: We can say that our process is environmentally friendly because if we compare our process with smelting, we prevent a lot of carbon emissions. This is especially true compared to smelting that takes place outside the EU, because we work very close to the mine, and also save carbon emissions from transport.
In terms of carbon footprint, we reduce it by about 94% compared to transport and smelting abroad. It’s a huge quantity. And when it comes to water consumption, there is some, but we reuse the water – it’s a closed-circuit process.
The key is that our process is based on electricity. Nothing is “burned” like in a smelter, so there is not any environmental pollution of that type.
Then, the total emissions depend in part on the source of electricity?
Eva Lain: Absolutely so. In order for our process to be green, access to renewable sources of electricity is crucial. Regions like where we are based now in Andalucía with prolific wind and solar photovoltaic generation, enable us to have competitive prices.
We are looking to leverage synergies with green hydrogen for energy storage – given that our process operates continuously, deploying green energy storage systems is important.
Your company and technology are both new: what has it been like developing both? What are the biggest challenges you have faced?
Eva Lain: To be honest, it has been challenging to develop and scale up the technology, all the way from my initial 200 ml pots in the lab up to the 100 meter cubed tanks are now operating at our Riotinto mine in Spain: this is upsizing by 500.000 times!
Meanwhile, setting up a company from scratch, growing, and transitioning from a start-up to a professional structure, all the while ensuring that everyone is paid every month and keeping stakeholders happy. It really has been a ride. Thankfully, I am surrounded by an amazing team that makes all of this possible and I am extremely proud of them.
Looking ahead, we also want to develop other strategic research and development lines that we are quite passionate about and diversify our activity. Having said this, in Spain, the main factor limiting our growth right now is definitely access to grid power.
Expanding our Riotinto plant in Spain is out of the question due to lack of grid capacity in the area, and finding a new location that fulfils our energy requirements and is not too far away has proven extremely difficult. It seems like the situation will get better in about 5 years’ time, but if you want to get going in the next two to three years as is our case, it is hard.
I also must say that in terms of administrative support, we could not be happier. The Spanish administration, specially Junta de Andalucía, are so insightful and helpful in terms of permitting and general support, I don’t think we could ask for any better.
You talked about the benefits of reopening mines, but sometimes this can be a controversial topic. What would you say to people who might not agree that the benefits outweigh the costs?
Eva Lain: It’s true that the mining sector is often looked upon sceptically, this is natural as there historically have been quite a few events that support that. But these days, modern mining practices have extremely high environmental and safety standards, nothing to do with the past.
It is one of the most regulated sectors, mines are subject to very strict authorisation procedures and continuous checks and the actual activity is highly digitalised. Living near a modern mine is safe, and they bring prosperity to the area in the form of economic activity and quality jobs. The most important thing is that modern mining is safe and environmentally respectful, and it really is necessary for the energy transition and modern life as we conceive it – at the end of the day, who doesn’t want to use a phone, a computer or a car? The best we can do is operate the industry in a safe and conscious way with the best practices.