Zero Emissions Lithium Extraction from Underground Reservoirs

传统上，稠油和油砂资源为稠油生产。在这些开采过程中，高温蒸汽注入降低了石油的粘度，使其能够被开采到地面。然而，天然气燃烧产生的蒸汽会产生大量温室气体(GHG)，使油砂沥青成为全球最脏的石油之一。需要转变模式，从地下资源(重油和油砂资源、致密页岩资源和含水层系统)中获得清洁的有价值的产品。这是由于油砂资源开采和加工过程中的温室气体排放，也是石油产品运输和最终用途燃烧过程中的排放。所需的转变是对资源重新估值，将其作为其他产品的来源，这些产品在开采过程中和最终使用时都是零排放的。在拟议的研究中，将发现、设计和开发新的提取工艺，以从地下资源生产锂，并限制提取过程的净零排放。锂是能量储存系统释放更多可再生能源使用的基本元素。加拿大地下卤水水库中储存着大量的锂，这可能会为加拿大带来巨大的价值。有证据表明，在目前已有许多油井的现有资源范围内，可以从卤水中生产锂：现场热油砂作业将产出水中的锂浓度提高了100倍。为了最大限度地减少所需的能量，必须最大限度地减少抽水和处理盐水的量。因此，一项工艺要求是通过将卤水留在地下来避免大量卤水的处理--该过程将是就地提取锂，并将物质输送到水库或从水库传出最少的物质。所需的研究包括使用水平井安装的电化学反应器进行井内锂提取的材料科学。关键的研究问题是电极材料以及水中其他金属的处理。该研究计划将包括发现级实验(电化学电池和电极材料)、综合建模(电极材料选择的密度泛函理论、反应堆设计的传输现象/流动、油藏模拟和整体过程管理)、工艺优化，以及最终的现场规模实验，以产生用于油砂资源的新型锂提取技术。拟议研究的结果将使地下资源的产品多样化，并在能够开采、使用和储存清洁能源的材料方面使加拿大受益。这项拟议的研究将产生一门新的分支学科--电化学油藏工程。在这个项目中，将培训11名HQP(3名博士，2名硕士，2名PDF，4名BSC)。

Heavy oil and oil sands resources are traditionally produced for viscous oils. In these recovery processes, high temperature steam injection lowers the oil's viscosity so that it can be produced to surface. However, steam generation from natural gas combustion yields large amounts of greenhouse gas (GHG) rendering oil sands bitumen among the dirtiest oil globally. A paradigm shift is required to derive clean valuable products from underground resources (heavy oil and oil sands resources, tight shale resources, and aquifer systems). This is due to GHG emissions of extraction and processing of oil sands resources but also the emissions of transportation and end-use combustion of the oil products. The shift required is to re-value the resource as a source of other products that are both zero-emission during extraction and also at end use. In the proposed research, novel extraction processes will be discovered, designed, and developed to produce lithium from underground resources with the constraint that the extraction process has net zero emissions. Lithium is an essential element for energy storage systems unlocking more renewable energy use. Canada possesses huge amounts of lithium stored in underground brine reservoirs which could yield huge value for Canada. Evidence exists that lithium could be produced from brines within current established resources where many wells already exist: in-situ thermal oil sands operations raise the lithium concentration in the produced water by up to 100 times. To minimize the energy required, the amount of pumping and handling of brine must be minimized. Thus, a process requirement would be to avoid large brine handling by leaving the brine in the ground - the process would be in-situ lithium extraction with minimal material transport to/from the reservoir. The required research includes materials science for in-well lithium extraction using a horizontal well mounted electrochemical reactor. The key research questions are on the electrode materials as well as dealing with other metals in the water. The research program will consist of discovery-level experiments (electrochemical cells and electrode materials), integrated modelling (DFT for electrode material selection, transport phenomena/flow for reactor design, and reservoir simulation for reservoir and overall process management), process optimization, and eventual field-scale experiments to yield a new class of lithium extraction technologies for oil sands resources. The outcomes from the proposed research will diversify products from underground resources as well as benefit Canada in terms of materials enabling clean energy extraction, use, and storage. A new subdiscipline, electrochemical reservoir engineering, will emerge from the proposed research. In this project, 11 HQP (3 PhD, 2 MSc, 2 PDF, and 4 BSc) will be trained.