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Lithium extraction processes may use a combination of techniques to produce final, high-purity lithium products (Xu et al. 2021). Of the novel processes proposed for lithium extraction from brines, those currently being advanced toward pilot and commercial scale are referred to as direct lithium extraction (DLE). DLE technologies can be added to existing geothermal power plants or built into the design of future plants and have distinct advantages over evaporative ponds and hardrock mining with respect to sustainability related to land use, water use, time to market with lithium products, and carbon intensity of operations. DLE technologies can be broadly grouped into three main categories: adsorption, ion exchange, and solvent extraction. The adsorption process physically adsorbs LiCl molecules onto the surface of a sorbent from a lithium-loaded solution with water as a potential stripping solution. Ion exchange takes lithium ions from the solution by trading lithium ions for protons or other cations within the sorbent’s structure. An acid solution is typically required for stripping and recovering the lithium. Solvent extraction exchanges LiCl molecules or lithium ions between brine and an organic liquid phase containing an extractant that complexes with lithium or lithium compounds in the brine. To successfully be deployed, DLE techniques (alone or in combination with additional process steps) must be able to extract lithium from complex brines with high concentrations of ions such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, borates, sulfates, and for geothermal brines, silica, and potentially other species (e.g., iron and manganese that have high concentrations in Salton Sea brines). 3 LithiumandGeothermalBrines 3.1 LithiumOccurrenceinGeothermalBrines The potential for the recovery of valuable minerals from geothermal brines has been recognized for decades, and efforts in the United States have mainly focused on the mineral-rich brines of the Salton Sea KGRA, which developed through a complex and unique geologic history and location along an active tectonic boundary. Recent studies have looked at the broader U.S. occurrence of valuable minerals in geothermal brines. Neupane and Wendt (2017) examined more than 2,250 chemical analyses of geothermal fluids primarily in the western United States that were compiled by the USGS (Figure 2). Notably, less than 1% of samples have lithium concentrations >20 mg/kg, and the highest concentrations are from the Salton Sea, with values up to 400 mg/kg. Similarly high lithium concentrations are also reported for continental brines in Arkansas (Figure 2; Appendix A.5). Simmons et al. (2018) investigated strategic and critical element occurrence in geothermal and oilfield brines from Nevada and Utah with new sampling and analyses, and only a single sample from Roosevelt Hot Springs, Utah (25 mg/kg) was found to have lithium concentration >10 mg/kg. 4 This report is available at no cost from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) at www.nrel.gov/publications.PDF Image | Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Brines
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Product and Development Focus for Infinity Turbine
ORC Waste Heat Turbine and ORC System Build Plans: All turbine plans are $10,000 each. This allows you to build a system and then consider licensing for production after you have completed and tested a unit.Redox Flow Battery Technology: With the advent of the new USA tax credits for producing and selling batteries ($35/kW) we are focussing on a simple flow battery using shipping containers as the modular electrolyte storage units with tax credits up to $140,000 per system. Our main focus is on the salt battery. This battery can be used for both thermal and electrical storage applications. We call it the Cogeneration Battery or Cogen Battery. One project is converting salt (brine) based water conditioners to simultaneously produce power. In addition, there are many opportunities to extract Lithium from brine (salt lakes, groundwater, and producer water).Salt water or brine are huge sources for lithium. Most of the worlds lithium is acquired from a brine source. It's even in seawater in a low concentration. Brine is also a byproduct of huge powerplants, which can now use that as an electrolyte and a huge flow battery (which allows storage at the source).We welcome any business and equipment inquiries, as well as licensing our turbines for manufacturing.| CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@infinityturbine.com | RSS | AMP |