RotarEkiln™

Metso RotarEkiln is an innovative kiln design which uses a more efficient, zero-emission furnace. As the name signifies, RotarEkiln is an electrically powered, indirectly-heated rotary kiln, which doesn’t consume fossil fuels.​ For the RotarEkiln, the burner system of standard indirect rotary kilns is substituted by an electric heating system, which utilizes resistive emitters that provide radiative heat transfer to the kiln shell. Metso’s RotarEkiln systems can accommodate shell diameters of up to 5 meters – which makes it the only commercially available electric kiln at this scale.

Possible RotarEkiln applications

• Lithium acid roast
• Rare earth acid roast
• Pyrolysis (carbonization)
• Low to medium-temperature calcination
• Drying

Lithium for a greener future

The global battery metals market, such as for Li-ion battery metals, is identified as one of the essential areas to progress with the decarbonization of industry and society. There is a tremendous rising demand for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and more.

For lithium production, there are several different process routes available or under development. The selection of the process route and main equipment determines not only the initial investment cost, but also the operational cost and the Li yield for the coming decades and ultimately the plant’s future competitiveness.