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The first test series for Li extraction using LMO have been successfully carried out at the UnLimited test site in Bruchsal (Upper Rhine Graben). Under the site-specific temperature and pressure conditions, it was shown that the extraction of lithium using the DLE process is technically possible. 

As part of the Li+Fluids joint project, BGR is testing for the first time a technical implementation for the extraction of lithium from deep geothermal brines in northern Germany. For this purpose, hot formation fluid from a depth of approx. 3,500 meters is to be brought to the surface and sorption processes are to be used to extract lithium.

Under the motto "Lithium extraction from geothermal brines: What are the market requirements for lithium-ion batteries?", the 2nd UnLimited Workshop took place last Thursday (15.06.2023) as a side event of TSEE Munich. During the workshop, six participants from industry and R&D gave insights into the technical approaches of lithium extraction up to the processing of the produced lithium products for use in lithium-ion batteries.

The first series of tests for geothermal lithium extraction have been successfully carried out at the UnLimited test site in Bruchsal (Upper Rhine Graben). Under the site-specific temperature and pressure conditions, it was shown that the extraction of lithium using the DLE process is technically possible.

As part of the "THE SMARTER E EUROPE" (TSEE) trade fair from 14 to 16 June in Munich, the "UnLimited" research project funded by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection (BMWK) is offering a workshop on lithium extraction from geothermal brines on 15 June. Here, the technical challenges in extraction and the requirements for the product lithium on the battery market will be addressed.

Geothermal technology not only enables sustainable supply of electricity and heat, but also regional lithium extraction. Researchers from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and EnBW have produced a lithium-ion sieve from a lithium-manganese oxide and used it to adsorb lithium from geothermal brines. In the future, the use of domestic lithium sources can help to meet the increasing demand for the light metal, which is indispensable as an energy storage material. The researchers reported in the Energy Advances journal.

Sorption and ion exchange have been examined as suitable direct lithium extraction (DLE) techniques. For the DLE technique, sorbents are needed that selectively bind lithium. Commercially available sorbents, however, have advantages and disadvantages in different processing lines and in dependence on the physicochemical parameters during extraction. In the joint UnLimited project, different sorbents beyond Mn-oxide are tested at lab scale, i.e., zeolite and Li-Fe-phosphate.

At the end of the year, the members of the two BMWK-funded research projects Li+Fluids and UnLimited met for an online expert discussion. The event focused on the presentation of the current activities of the individual partners and an outlook for the coming year 2023.

Geothermal heat from deep subsurface will become even more important in the future: Thereby, the extracted heat can supply neighborhoods and industry - via heating networks, completely without CO2 emissions and independent of domestic sources. Until now, coal or gas had to be burned for this purpose. On September 8, 2022, Minister President Winfried Kretschmann visited the geothermal plant in Bruchsal, which is currently operated by the EnBW as well as the Bruchsal city utility. For some time now, the geothermal site has been supplying the nearby police barracks with heat, and since 2021 has also been producing lithium for car batteries.

In view of the rising global demand for lithium, the Mexican government has founded a state-owned company to extract and market the light metal. The raw material, which is important for electric cars, will in future be produced and marketed exclusively by the company Litio para México (Lithium for Mexico, or LitioMx for short), according to a decree issued by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.