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Energies 2021, 14, 6805 57 of 72 At the Hudson Ranch facility, two lithium sorbents were tested and Sorbent-A was determined to have a higher sorption capacity than Sorbent-P and apparently produced the same purity of lithium chloride concentrate [130]. The pilot plant received a brine stream piped directly from the power plant and operated for over 9000 h from November 2012 through 2013 and produced a purified lithium chloride product. Lithium extraction efficiencies as high as 95% were reported [130]. Parameters monitored during pilot testing included efficiency of lithium extraction and iron-silica removal, weight percent of lithium chloride in the product solution, impurities in the lithium chloride product solution, masses of process chemicals and water consumption; unfortunately, none of these data were reported [129,130]. These data were used by Simbol to identify operating costs and plan scale-up to a commercial facility [129,130]. It was reported that Sorbent-A was easier to manufacture and this sorbent was presumably intended for use in the commercial facility. The lithium chloride purification process used for separating multivalent cations and boron from lithium chloride during the Hudson Ranch pilot test was not described, except that it was originally a three-step process that was reduced to two steps with the goal of lowering costs [129,130]. They tested the purification process against almost approximately 25,000 L of stripped lithium chloride and found the overall process had a yield of between 75% and 86%, with some batches having yields as high as 94% [130]. The concentration process, which occurred after purification, was not described, except to say that initial equipment purchased for the process was inadequate [130]. The final concentration process took the 1.7% lithium chloride solution discharged from the purification process and concentrated it to a 36% solution [129,130]. At Brawley, CA, Simbol established pilot facilities for converting lithium chloride to lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide [129,130]. A pilot plant was operated for over 125 days in three periods, using both synthetic and real geothermal brines [130]. The real brine used was lithium chloride concentrated from the Hudson Ranch pilot plant, which was shipped to Brawley in totes. The geothermal lithium brine was converted to lithium carbonate by addition of soda ash (Na2CO3), which reacts with LiCl to produce Li2CO3. After washing and drying, a battery-grade lithium carbonate (99.9% purity) was produced [130]. Sodium and magnesium concentrations were reported to be 13 and 1 mg/kg, respectively, in the final product. The particle size of the precipitated carbonate was not within battery specifications, but this was resolved by further grinding in a laboratory mill [130]. The amount of lithium carbonate produced from geothermal brine was not reported. Simbol investigated production of battery-grade lithium products from lithium chlo- ride brines generally, with the objective of eventually establishing a production facility. One process that was evaluated involved reacting Li2CO3 from the soda ash method (described above) with lime (CaO) to produce LiOH solutions, which once evaporated, yields LiOH·H2O [130]. The soda ash method is essentially the conventional approach for making lithium chloride into Li2CO3 and LiOH·H2O products and this method is practiced commercially. However, the process has drawbacks, including requiring the mixing of slurries, rather than aqueous solutions. The maximum concentration Simbol achieved using this method was approximately 3.5 weight percent LiOH, which would need to be further evaporated, washed, and purified to produce a saleable grade of LiOH·H2O [130]. Simbol also conducted laboratory tests on a patented processes for converting lithium chloride (LiCl) to lithium hydroxide (LiOH·H2O) and lithium hydroxide to lithium car- bonate (Li2CO3) [129,130]. The patented Simbol process used for conversion of lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide was not specified in technical reports [129,130], but Simbol has a number of patents concerning lithium chloride processing (Table 7), including patents related to the electrochemical conversion of lithium chloride to lithium hydroxide [324–326]. The patented processes involve reacting lithium chloride in an electrochemical cell to make lithium hydroxide and then reacting lithium hydroxide with carbon dioxide to produce lithium carbonate [324–326]. The process used at Brawley involved the electrochemicalPDF Image | Recovery of Lithium 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 |