Lithium is an essential building block of the low-carbon economy, particularly for energy storage and electric vehicles. Due to its unique properties and lack of alternatives, the global demand for lithium is predicted to rise over 40 times by 2040. To meet this demand, lithium mining and refining need to scale in tandem. Current methods of extraction and processing are slow and resource intensive. Brine is pumped to the surface and into ponds where solar evaporation is used to concentrate the lithium. This process can take months or years to complete, requires large amounts of land and water, causes air and water pollution, and has a relatively low recovery efficiency.
New direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies, on other hand, are emerging which extract lithium from produced oil and gas water or saturated brines. There are several categories of DLE technologies including sorbents, electrochemical, membrane and ion exchange technologies. Dozens of companies are working in these areas and several of them are starting to reach the commercial markets. DLE projects are dependent upon a wide range of technologies and disciplines in the petroleum engineering field. These include drilling the wells, pumping the lithium rich brine/produced water, recycling and reinjecting water in the reservoirs, and reservoir characterization and simulation. This SPE Live will focus on petroleum engineering skills required for DLE and provide a resource outlook for DLE technologies.
Speaker: Marshall Carolus, Vice President at INTEK Inc.
Moderated by: Elena Melchert, President at Energy Consulting LLC
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