Session 6F: Mineral Extraction|Regional Updates

Geothermal brines from the Salton Sea Known Geothermal Resource Area (SS-KGRA) are highly saline and contain high concentrations of lithium. These brines are currently brought to the surface, used to produce geothermal energy, and then reinjected into the subsurface to maintain pressure in the geothermal reservoir. Before reinjection, there is an opportunity to extract the lithium. This is promising for securing a domestic supply chain of lithium to help meet energy storage needs for transition to a renewable energy grid. Previous analyses of how much water these processes will require in the region are limited by the lack of data available on freshwater use for both geothermal energy production and direct lithium extraction (DLE) processes. In this work, we develop improved estimates for water use in geothermal energy production and DLE processes. Our findings indicate that the water requirements for geothermal facilities may be significantly higher than previously reported, potentially reaching 79.5 AFY/MW compared to the average of 16 AFY/MW. For DLE, the ion exchange method is identified as potentially more water-intensive than liquid-liquid extraction. Additionally, reallocating agricultural water to support these processes could strain local water resources and lower the water level of the Salton Sea, exacerbating air quality issues due to increased toxin release.

The global demand for production of critical minerals to supply the energy transition away from fossil fuels has been increasing at a fast pace. The cost to produce these critical minerals is typically high, with technology testing and development required to produce critical minerals like lithium with a lower carbon footprint.

Lithium is one of the critical minerals that is required for battery manufacturing, driven mainly by electric vehicle demand increasing globally. The global market for lithium is currently supplied primarily by Australia, China, Chile and Argentina from hard rock mining and evaporation ponds (salars). The current production methods for lithium are environmentally destructive with large surface land impacts and have high operating costs.

The advent of Direct Lithium Extraction technologies has opened the opportunity to produce lithium from deep subsurface brines. The processing technology is being piloted for production of lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from deep subsurface brines in Germany, Canada and the USA. Commercial DLE projects are in development utilizing deep subsurface brines that are from reservoirs that have proven oil and gas production or geothermal heat and power production.

Understanding what is in your geothermal brine through geochemical analysis will define the available concentration of lithium in the brine, but also other potential recoverable minerals and metals. The composition of the brine is important to understand as the DLE process is sensitive to geochemical composition, including components or attributes that can make the lithium extraction process less effective or uneconomic. Equally important to understand are the reservoir conditions including pressure and temperature, in order to define the well network plan, production forecast, and operating plan.

Production of lithium from geothermal brines offers a clean green energy solution utilizing a binary Organic Rankine Cycle geothermal power plant design. The extraction of lithium is an energy intensive process and the use of geothermal energy to power the process provides cost savings, emissions reduction, and a renewable energy source. Many geothermal projects produce brines from the deep subsurface that may have sufficient lithium concentrations to warrant further investigation and potential development for lithium extraction processes co-produced as a value stream.

This paper will describe the considerations for co-production of lithium from geothermal brines. The paper will include a case study of a lithium enriched geothermal brine project in Germany that is currently in progress. The author is a Competent Person for the Germany project.

New methods for extraction of Lithium from geothermal brines combined with the increased industrial demand for Lithium for batteries has caused significant interest using geothermal brine as an economically viable domestic source of Lithium. A simplified numerical model was constructed that simulates the production of lithium rich brine and injection of lithium depleted brines under several configurations, with the aim of understanding the effect of well patterns on lithium recovery factors. While the interactions of Lithium with rocks and brine are highly simplified pending further research, this numerical model provides a preliminary tool to quantitatively compare lithium production under various scenarios. The model can be updated as more data on lithium behavior become available.

Lithium is the cornerstone of energy transition for Indonesia to achieve Net Zero Emissions by 2060 or earlier. This energy transition will drive the Indonesia demand projection for Electric Vehicle Battery and Energy Storage System and in turn will demand much more lithium for this transition effort. Many studies have been conducted to find the sources of lithium, one of them is geothermal brine. Indonesia has enormous geothermal resources, some fields have lithium content that can potentially be extracted. Various methods in the extraction process of lithium from the geothermal brine have been developed, both on laboratory and pilot projects. The geothermal brine is typically pumped to the surface by a geothermal power plant, used for energy generation, and then returned to the underground reservoir via an injection well. Prior to reinjection the geothermal brines contain in the temporary ponds whereas the lithium extraction points may occur here or at any point suitable for the extraction technology. Typically there are three phases in the lithium extraction, like end- to-end process technology solutions, namely 1) Lithium Brine Extraction-depending on the geothermal brines field compositions, pre-treatment may be employed to remove any contaminants or unwanted constituents from the brines, then selective absorbents are used to separate lithium from other elements 2) Concentration with membrane system to concentrate lithium at a desired concentration 3) Deposition using chemical precipitation and purification for saleable lithium production. This paper reviews traditional brine extraction and direct lithium extraction (DLE) in general and specifically in geothermal brine.

Well before the war in Ukraine, the European Union (EU) was one of the world’s first major regions to suggest binding greenhouse-gas (GHG) emission reduction targets. The EU’s specific goal was to cut GHG by at least 55% by 2030. That would make it the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. All of this required that the EU create a range of public funding instruments, which would support proposed investments in renewables and energy efficiency projects. These would include but not be limited to geothermal projects. Currently, many different projects are under consideration. These run the gamut from completely new to more mature, well-established technologies, and from small-scale RD&I efforts to large-scale production. This article takes a representative sample of e post-communist EU members – Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary and Bulgaria – then examines them from a legislative, administrative and legal point of view to see how well they are positioned to exploit their new geothermal-development opportunities. Renewable-energy (RE) law, a subset of energy law, is the natural foundation on which to base our analysis.. RE mainly relates to the transactional legal and policy issues involved in the development, implementation, and commercialization of such renewable-energy sources as solar, wind, geothermal and tidal.

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the geothermal energy landscape in Türkiye on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The study examines the country's progress and internationally recognized applications in geothermal energy, highlighting key milestones and the impact of the founding vision that underscores the central role of geosciences in economic development. The use of legislation and feed-in tariff mechanisms to promote the use of indigenous energy resources is discussed in the context of cause-and-effect relationships, highlighting the dynamics of geothermal development.
MTA (The Institute of Mineral Research and Exploration) started geothermal exploration in Türkiyein the 1960s. From the drilling of the first geothermal well in 1963 to the centenary celebration in 2023, Türkiye has made its name in the global rankings and secured a pioneering position in the field. There are currently over 2000 thermal springs and wells, with drilling depths of up to 5 km, and direct use applications have resulted in 6300 MWt. This includes district heating (1422 MWt), greenhouse heating (2417 MWt), heating for thermal facilities, hotels, etc. (680 MWt), balneological use (1763 MWt), agricultural drying (9.5 MWt), cooling (0.35 MWt) and geothermal heat pump applications (8.5 MWt). The total installed capacity has reached 1710 MWe and the carbondioxide that is produced is used in the production of 400,000 tonnes of dry ice per year.
In 1982, the first Turkish-Italian seminar on geothermal energy was held. The first geothermal electricity was produced in 1984. In 1999, the Izmir-Balçova geothermal heating system was selected as a best practice by the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC). The World Geothermal Congress (IGA-TGA) was held in 2005 and the European Geothermal PhD Days were held in Türkiye for the first time in February 2020. In April 2023, with the inauguration of the first geothermal-solar hybrid power plant, Türkiye has reached another significant milestone, demonstrating its commitment to innovative and sustainable energy solutions as it looks to the future.