For geothermal fields around the world, produced geothermal brine has actually been simply injected back underground, however now its become clear that the salt water produced at the Salton Sea geothermal field consist of an immense quantity of lithium, a critical resource requirement for low-carbon transport and energy storage. Presently, there is extremely little lithium production in the U.S. and most lithium is imported; however, that may alter in the near future.
Geothermal power plants at the Salton Sea like this one, the John Featherstone aircraft, produce superheated salt water, which has lots of lithium and other minerals. Berkeley Lab is advancing the science and technology to make this a “green” source of lithium for domestic battery manufacturing. Credit: Patrick Dobson/Berkeley Lab
Sizing Up the Challenges in Extracting Lithium From Geothermal Brine
Berkeley Lab scientists examine the innovation landscape for establishing a domestic source of lithium.
If you had a container of marbles of various colors however desired just the green ones, how could you effectively choose them out? What if it wasnt marbles however a jar of shine, and there was glue, sand, and mud combined in? That begins to explain the intricacy of the salt water drained from beneath Californias Salton Sea as part of geothermal energy production.
For geothermal fields around the globe, produced geothermal salt water has been simply injected back underground, however now its become clear that the brines produced at the Salton Sea geothermal field consist of an immense quantity of lithium, an important resource need for low-carbon transport and energy storage. Demand for lithium is skyrocketing, as it is an important component in lithium-ion batteries. Presently, there is very little lithium production in the U.S. and most lithium is imported; however, that may change in the future.
Extraction of lithium from geothermal salt water is expected to be particularly challenging. The most technically advanced technique of lithium extraction is adsorption of lithium using inorganic sorbents, however other promising technologies are also being established. They also are working on a technoeconomic analysis with two business running at the Salton Sea– Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Controlled Thermal Resources– to see if lithium extraction technologies can be done in a way that makes it cost-competitive with other forms of lithium production.
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have actually just recently released a comprehensive review of past and present innovations for extracting minerals from geothermal salt water. The review, released in the journal Energies, goes over and examines a broad selection of innovations used for extraction of lithium from brines. The evaluation discovers that geothermal salt water in the Salton Sea area of California are expected to be a significant domestic source of lithium in the future however that considerable technical obstacles require to be overcome.
” One of the significant drivers for developing domestic lithium resources now is that we will need a lot of lithium in the future.” said Will Stringfellow, lead author of the paper. “We are dependent on lithium thats extracted from the earth in other countries– and its also processed overseas– so we do not have any substantial domestic battery production. There are possibly a lot of lithium resources in the United States that could be made use of. Were looking at whether those resources can be drawn out and utilized in a truly ecologically friendly way, so that theyre genuinely green lithium sources.”
Extraction of lithium from geothermal brines is anticipated to be especially challenging. The salt water is extremely hot when it comes out of the subsurface, and it contains a rich stew of numerous dissolved minerals in addition to lithium. These are all materials that could potentially interfere with the extraction.”
The hot salt water that comes up from the subsurface as part of geothermal power production at the Salton Sea in California is an abundant stew of minerals, consisting of iron, magnesium, calcium, salt, and lithium. Utilizing numerous extraction methods, lithium chloride can be extracted from the salt water, then processed into other types for battery production. Credit: Jenny Nuss/Berkeley Lab
The Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in both geothermal energy and the lithium supply chain, said Stringfellow, who is a specialist on industrial waste treatment and management. “We were commissioned by DOEs Geothermal Technologies Office to perform an independent analysis of mineral extraction innovation in the context of geothermal energy production,” he stated. “There have been previous reviews of private fundamental processes, but this is, to our understanding, the first detailed review that looked at the more applied-science side of the procedure.”
Stringfellow and co-author Patrick Dobson, lead of Berkeley Labs geothermal systems program, took a look at the published literature and industrial and government reports, and performed a thorough review of lithium extraction technology patents. The most highly sophisticated approach of lithium extraction is adsorption of lithium utilizing inorganic sorbents, but other appealing technologies are also being developed. Inorganic molecular screen ion-exchange sorbents are being made an application for extraction of lithium from salt water, and the past and existing application of this technology are discussed in the paper.
Dobson and Stringfellow are members of the Lithium Resource Research and Innovation Center (LiRRIC), developed at Berkeley Lab to develop science and innovation for sustainable domestic lithium extraction, refining, and products synthesis for applications such as batteries.
Recent tasks have focused on how to figure out the chemical structure of hot brine in real-time, without requiring to cool it down, making it possible for better procedure control to optimize the effectiveness of lithium extraction. They likewise are dealing with a technoeconomic analysis with two companies running at the Salton Sea– Berkshire Hathaway Energy and Controlled Thermal Resources– to see if lithium extraction technologies can be performed in a manner in which makes it cost-competitive with other types of lithium production. These efforts are supported by the California Energy Commission and DOEs Advanced Manufacturing Office.
” Berkeley Lab originated lithium battery innovations and is continuing to press the leading edge of lithium battery innovation by utilizing natural deposits and communicating equitably with the neighborhoods in which these resources reside,” said Mike Whittaker, director of LiRRIC.
Recommendation: “Technology for the Recovery of Lithium from Geothermal Brines” by William T. Stringfellow and Patrick F. Dobson, 18 October 2021, Energies.DOI: 10.3390/ en14206805.
The work was supported by the Department of Energys Geothermal Technologies Office.