Berkeley Lab scientists to help advance lithium extraction, geothermal energy, thanks to California Energy Commission grants

Deep beneath the surface of the Salton Sea, a shallow lake in California’s Imperial County, sits an immense reserve of critical metals that, if unlocked, could power the state’s green economy for years to come. These naturally occurring metals are dissolved in geothermal brine, a byproduct of geothermal energy production. Now the race is on to develop technology to efficiently extract one of the most valuable metals from the brine produced by the geothermal plants near the Salton Sea: lithium.

Lithium is a key ingredient of most batteries, and as vehicles, buildings, the grid, and other sectors increasingly go electric, global demand for lithium is expected to skyrocket in coming years, growing tenfold by 2030. Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) are working with two companies to evaluate and analyze their lithium extraction technologies. Both projects have recently been awarded grants from the California Energy Commission (CEC):

• $6 million to Berkshire Hathaway Energy for a demonstration project at an existing geothermal power facility in Calipatria to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate

• $1.46 million for Controlled Thermal Resources’ (CTR) Hell’s Kitchen Geothermal LLC for the design, construction, and operation of a pilot-scale base-metal extraction unit to be operated upstream of a lithium extraction unit.

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Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR), a company based in the Imperial Valley, has developed a pretreatment process to selectively remove base metals from the brine before the lithium is extracted. The lithium extraction will then be conducted using an ion-exchange resin technology from Lilac Solutions. CTR aims to demonstrate that it can produce battery-grade lithium carbonate at a production cost of less than $5,000 per metric ton.

“CTR and our project engineering consultants at Hatch have completed extensive test work and design work to demonstrate that direct lithium extraction from Salton Sea geothermal brine is competitive on a worldwide basis,” CTR’s Chief Executive Officer Rod Colwell said. “The opportunity to develop lithium extraction and conversion facilities that complement the latest advancements in geothermal power plant engineering will enable our team to design and construct commercial facilities that offer superior operating and economic outcomes. We look forward to working with the Berkeley Lab team as we prepare for this next evolution in renewable energy and critical minerals production in the United States.”

Berkeley Lab scientists led by Stringfellow and Hanna Breunig will be involved in both projects to make sure the appropriate data is collected and analyzed to help the CEC evaluate the technologies.