Zero Carbon Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Fluid

从地热流体中提取零碳锂

• 批准号: 84863
• 金额: $ 21.57万
• 依托单位: GEOTHERMAL ENGINEERING LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: BEIS-Funded Programmes
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=84863
• 关键词: Zero; Carbon; Lithium; Extraction; Geothermal

The project will focus on two areas:1\. The business case for the production of zero carbon lithium from deep geothermal fluid in Cornwall in order to substantially reduce the carbon footprint associated with the batteries used in electric cars. Even though electric cars have no emissions when driven, there are high emissions associated with their manufacture, particularly the supply of lithium for the batteries.2\. Securing production of lithium in the UK to build a robust national supply chain of the raw material required for domestic battery manufacture.Storage of electricity in batteries, whether for powering cars or for balancing the National grid, is set to become a very important part of a sustainable, green economy. Most modern batteries use lithium as a raw material. However, the extraction and transportation of lithium has a high carbon footprint. In addition, no lithium is produced in the UK. To address the problem of the lithium carbon footprint, a small number of companies are now looking at extracting lithium from geothermal fluids beneath the ground. The most promising of these projects are in California and New Zealand. **The UK also has a lithium resource, contained within the geothermal fluids in Cornwall. We have recently (July 2020) shown that the concentration of lithium in the deep geothermal fluid in our geothermal wells in Cornwall is the highest in the world.**This project will assess the potential for lithium extraction from geothermal fluid in Cornwall and create an investment grade business case for developing an extraction plant at our existing geothermal site. The project will use data from the deep geothermal site near Redruth (United Downs Deep Geothermal project). The assessment will focus on the different types of technologies currently available for lithium extraction, the economics of the process, the market (present and future) , the impacts on the future economy in Cornwall and the overall carbon footprint (via a Lifetime Carbon Assessment). The project will also assess potential locations for four other follow on geothermal/ lithium extraction plants in Cornwall.The driver for lithium extraction from geothermal fluids is twofold: firstly to produce zero carbon lithium (the current carbon footprint of importing lithium is very high) and secondly, to ensure the UK has a secure supply chain of an essential element for battery technology.

该项目将侧重于两个领域：1.从康沃尔深层地热流体生产零碳锂的商业案例是，为了大幅减少与电动汽车使用的电池相关的碳足迹。尽管电动汽车在行驶时没有排放，但与其制造相关的高排放，特别是电池的锂供应。确保英国锂的生产，以建立国内电池制造所需的强大的全国原材料供应链。电池中的电力储存，无论是为汽车供电还是为了平衡国家电网，都将成为可持续、绿色经济的非常重要的组成部分。大多数现代电池使用锂作为原材料。然而，锂的提取和运输有很高的碳足迹。此外，英国没有生产锂。为了解决锂碳足迹的问题，一小部分公司现在正在考虑从地下地热流体中提取锂。这些项目中最有希望的是加利福尼亚州和新西兰。**英国也有锂资源，包含在康沃尔的地热流体中。我们最近(2020年7月)表明，我们康沃尔地热井深层地热流体中的锂浓度是世界上最高的。**该项目将评估从康沃尔地热流体中提取锂的潜力，并为在我们现有的地热地点开发提取厂创造一个投资级的商业案例。该项目将使用来自雷德鲁斯(联合唐斯深地热项目)附近的深层地热现场的数据。评估将侧重于目前可用于锂提取的不同类型的技术、过程的经济性、市场(现在和未来)、对康沃尔未来经济的影响以及总体碳足迹(通过终身碳评估)。该项目还将评估康沃尔其他四个地热/锂提取厂的潜在地点。从地热流体中提取锂的驱动因素有两个：第一，生产零碳锂(目前进口锂的碳足迹非常高)，第二，确保英国拥有一条安全的供应链，供应电池技术的关键元素。