The low-structure direct lithium extraction plant near Salton Sea, California, is the first of seven planned stages for the $1. 85 billion facility.
The construction of the first large-scale direct lithium extraction plant in the U. S. The U. S. Geological Survey began last month in California’s “Lithium Valley,” paving the way for the Salton Sea region to become a significant source of materials critical to the energy transition.
Australia-based Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings Inc. is leading a $1. 85 billion allocation to build a fully incorporated lithium and renewable energy production facility on the waterfront in the Imperial Valley region. The inauguration ceremony on January 30 marked the beginning of the structure of the first phase of the facility.
“We are building the foundations for a truly sustainable battery materials and clean energy campus that will close the gap between upstream, midstream and downstream activities and set new standards for battery supply chain integration in the United States,” said firm CEO Rod Colwell.
The plant will incorporate a geothermal power plant with lithium production, making it the first facility in the world to combine those two processes. The first phase is expected to produce around 25,000 tonnes of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate per year, enough to produce about 415,000 electric cars each year.
Major automakers have already seized the opportunity to invest in the project. In 2021, General Motors became the first private investor, contributing an undisclosed “multi-million” dollar amount. Additional support arrived in August 2023 when Stellantis invested $100 million.
Once fully domestically compatible, it is expected to produce up to 300,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent per year. Under a 10-year contract, the developer will supply Stellantis with up to 65,000 tons per year of lithium hydroxide for batteries. monohydrate.
The approach of extracting lithium directly at the plant works in two main steps. Initially, the geothermal power plant produces blank force and steam. The lithium is then extracted from the geothermal brine that is brought to the surface through the process of force generation.
Instead of discharging the surface brine, it is re-injected into the geothermal reservoir. The lithium extracted through the filtration procedure is then used to produce lithium carbonate or hydroxide.
The direct extraction procedure “is not a new technology. . . and it has been used for several decades in Argentina, albeit in a hybrid form,” explained Michael McKibben, professor emeritus of geology at the University of California, Riverside.
The method offers significant environmental advantages over hard rock mining, which involves blasting rock, followed by crushing, soaking it in sulfuric acid and ultimately roasting it at high temperatures to release the lithium.
The procedure “applied to geothermal and petroleum brines is a much more environmentally friendly strategy because the infrastructure is already in place and the brine has already been brought to the surface in the case of geothermal energy production,” McKibben added. lithium from the brine stream already produced. There’s no need to build a big infrastructure. “
With the expected expansion of electric vehicle production in the coming years, the demand for lithium is also expected to increase.
A report released last year through the U. S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the U. S. Department of Energy had a report on the importance of the U. S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration found that production in the Salton Sea region could produce more than 3,400 kilotons of lithium, enough to make more than 375 million electric vehicle batteries.
“It’s possible that eventually, from this geothermal deposit, we’ll produce enough lithium to satisfy all of our domestic desires and even have something to export,” said McKibben, who has been reading the geothermal picture of the Salton Sea since the 1970s. “Producing lithium in the Salton Sea, manufacturing and recycling batteries locally, we would necessarily have a completely internal source chain, which . . . it would create jobs nationally and generate tax revenue. “
At the state level, efforts to progress have been going on for years.
According to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, California has allocated more than $27 million to help about 20 study projects aimed at advancing inventions in lithium recovery from geothermal brines and similar efforts since 2017. He signed a law in 2022 that allocates $5 million to Imperial County up to the Lithium Valley, and established the Lithium Extraction Tax Act to ensure local communities participate in the industry’s growth.
“We are fully committed to the Lithium Valley, building a global hub for blank energy and making sure local communities take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Newsom said after the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory report. “This extra confirms California’s prospect of being the primary source of batteries for our vehicles, homes and businesses around the world. “
The projects build on a 2022 report through the Lithium Valley Commission, established in 2020 to explore the opportunities and dangers of recovering lithium from the Imperial Valley’s geohermic brines. It recommends speeding up transport planning, advancing authorisation processes, and securely financing infrastructure investments. and economic incentives for industry expansion and skills training.
Just before starting construction on the plant, the California Energy Commission announced on Jan. 18 a grant opportunity to fund projects aimed at reducing the effects of scale and corrosion on California’s geothermal power plants or the recovery of lithium and other valuable minerals from geothermal brine in the Salton Sea. field. The deadline for submitting proposals is April 15.
While direct lithium extraction is an established technology, “its application to geothermal and petroleum brines is new,” McKibben said. “The challenge ahead will be to scale those processes to advertising levels, and this will be the key domain to look at. “
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