Yep, the part about the color is ridiculous. After reading that paragraph a few times my guess is:
<guess>
The normal procces uses Sodium Hidroxide that destroy a lot of things but the result is a mix of crap, Sodium salts an Litium salts that are very difficult to separate because they have very similar chemical properties.
Usualy Sodium Hidroxide is cheaper, so in general it's a good idea. But they have plenty of Litium arround.
If you replace the Sodium Hidroxide in the procces with Litium Hidroxide, it should destroy almost everything too. But now the result isonly crap an Litium salt, so you can skip a big part of the separation procces.
<guess>
The normal procces uses Sodium Hidroxide that destroy a lot of things but the result is a mix of crap, Sodium salts an Litium salts that are very difficult to separate because they have very similar chemical properties.
Usualy Sodium Hidroxide is cheaper, so in general it's a good idea. But they have plenty of Litium arround.
If you replace the Sodium Hidroxide in the procces with Litium Hidroxide, it should destroy almost everything too. But now the result isonly crap an Litium salt, so you can skip a big part of the separation procces.
</guess>