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Appendix A. Lithium Extraction Process Details A.1 Simbol, Inc. The intellectual property associated with Simbol’s pilot testing of the extraction of lithium and other metals from Salton Sea brine is held by new owners as of this writing. A partnership called Terralithium (https://www.terralithium.com/) claims to hold Simbol and All American Lithium (doing business as Alger Alternative Energy) patents related to lithium extraction and related processes that were initially developed by Simbol. Simbol focused on the recovery of lithium manganese, zinc, and potassium from pre-injection brines at the Elmore (CalEnergy) and Featherstone (EnergySource) power plants. Additional activities were directed toward improved management of silica and the generation of commercial products from silica management byproducts (Harrison 2014). The main process steps for lithium extraction were demonstrated at pilot scale: (1) silica management; (2) lithium extraction; (3) purification; (4) concentration; and (5) conversion into lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate products. A.1.1 Silica Management Silica handling at Salton Sea power plants is accomplished with crystallizer-clarifier processes and chemical scale inhibition, and the downstream fluid (pre-injection) is the source brine for lithium extraction operations. Simbol (Harrison 2014) tested two novel silica removal techniques, one using a sorbent and the other using a precipitant. Silica removal via sorbents was problematic due to required large volumes of stripping solution and degradation of the sorbents. Silica removal using precipitants was problematic due to required large caustic volumes to maintain pH at optimal levels and, for some precipitants, lithium was also extracted. Of the two novel processes, silica removal via sorbent was deemed less costly and potentially economical for polishing solutions with low silica concentrations (Harrison 2014). Current silica management at Salton Sea power plants produces a silica-iron filter cake, and Simbol also investigated ways to convert this into a commercial product, iron phosphate. Importantly, removal of 95% of arsenic was achieved by oxidizing 20%–30% of the iron between pH values of 3 and 4 before precipitation of silica-iron filter cake. During pilot testing at the Elmore and Featherstone power plants, more than 93% of silica and 98% percent of Fe (II) were removed as filter cake. Based on reporting by Harrison (2014), it is not explicitly stated whether silica was removed using the novel sorbent method or by the conventional crystallizer- clarifier and chemical modification processes. The latter is expected based on the poor economics of the sorbent method and its unproven commercial process, along with reporting of removal of both silica and iron together. A.1.2 Lithium Extraction Simbol aimed to create new sorbents with higher capacities, longer lifetimes, lower costs, and with minimal co-extracted impurities (Harrison 2014). Several formulations and processing steps for sorbent production were tested. The sorbent chosen for development to commercial scale exhibited high capacity, low affinity for impurities, and production via a simple two-step process. Sorbent formulation and production are proprietary; however, Simbol patents (e.g., U.S. Patent 8,901,032) indicate that the sorbents were developed from lithium-aluminum double 29 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 |