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Energies 2021, 14, 6805 12 of 72 1.7. Current Practices for Lithium Extraction from Brine: Evaporative Concentration Under current practices, lithium chloride (LiCl) and lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) are produced from brines by evaporative concentration followed by further refining [4,5,55,56]. Lithium hydroxide (LiOH·H2O) is typically produced from refined lithium carbonate. Lithium-containing brine deposits occur as groundwater under ancient endorheic lake beds (salt-pans or salt-flats or salars) and are commonly referred to as “salar brines” [4,9]. Wells are drilled to access the underground brine deposits and the salar brine is then pumped to the surface and distributed to evaporation ponds. The brine remains in the evaporation pond for a period of months or years until most of the liquid water content has been removed through solar evaporation [4,57]. Salar brines typically contain high concentrations of magnesium, potassium, and sodium as well as many other elements, including boron, in addition to lithium [4,57]. Brine operations usually consist of a series of large, hydraulicly connected evaporation ponds where lithium brines are concentrated. Potassium and other metals and salts are precipitated and extracted from earlier ponds in the series and evaporation continues in later ponds until an optimal target lithium concentration is reached [55,57–59]. Extracted metals and salts that are not economically valuable are disposed of as tailings or may be stored for later processing [58]. Main by- products are potash for the fertilizer industry and bischofite (mineral hydrous magnesium chloride), which is used for road paving [5,57]. Reverse osmosis (RO) can be used to concentrate the lithium brine as a supplement or alternative to the evaporation process [57]. During the evaporation process, the lithium concentration is increased from approximately 2000 mg/L to up to 6% in the final brine [5]. The brine is concentrated by solar evaporation to crystallize sodium, potassium and magnesium chlorides, leaving a concentrated solution of lithium chloride [56]. This lithium chloride solution is further refined at associated facilities to remove both bulk and trace impurities [5,9,57]. Conversion of lithium chloride to lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide occurs at associated facilities or may involve the sale of partially refined products to lithium markets [16,18,59]. Refining of the lithium chloride solution includes chemical addition to promote the precipitation of magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)2), which is then removed by filtration (e.g., [56]). Other processes may be applied to remove boron or other impurities, depending on the purity required for the chloride or carbonate product (e.g., [57,60,61]). A generalized flowsheet of lithium carbonate production from a concentrated salar brine is shown in Figure 9 [56]. Other versions of this process include variations such as using solar evaporation to concentrate the brine to approximately 3% lithium chloride, then treating it with lime and calcium chloride to convert impurities such as boron, magnesium and sulfate to a calcium borate hydrate, magnesium hydroxide and calcium sulfate dihydrate [52]. Production of lithium carbonate using salt ponds is estimated to cost 30% to 50% less than lithium obtained from hard rock mines [56,62]. 1.8. Future Practices: Direct Extraction of Lithium from Brines Although the use of open ponds for evaporation and concentration of lithium brines is nominally inexpensive, the evaporation process is time consuming, land intensive and wasteful of water [21]. The development of new brine resources from undeveloped lithium brine deposits is likely to meet significant environmental and social barriers to implemen- tation, particularly in the US, and evaporation ponds are not considered environmentally sustainable [19]. Furthermore, geothermal energy production requires that lithium be recovered from brines without significant losses of water, since water is a valuable resource that must be reinjected to maintain energy production at geothermal facilities, and reinjec- tion also provides a safe means of disposing of the other produced brine constituents back into the reservoir.PDF Image | Recovery of Lithium from Geothermal Brines
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Product and Development Focus for Infinity Turbine
ORC Waste Heat Turbine and ORC System Build Plans: All turbine plans are $10,000 each. This allows you to build a system and then consider licensing for production after you have completed and tested a unit.Redox Flow Battery Technology: With the advent of the new USA tax credits for producing and selling batteries ($35/kW) we are focussing on a simple flow battery using shipping containers as the modular electrolyte storage units with tax credits up to $140,000 per system. Our main focus is on the salt battery. This battery can be used for both thermal and electrical storage applications. We call it the Cogeneration Battery or Cogen Battery. One project is converting salt (brine) based water conditioners to simultaneously produce power. In addition, there are many opportunities to extract Lithium from brine (salt lakes, groundwater, and producer water).Salt water or brine are huge sources for lithium. Most of the worlds lithium is acquired from a brine source. It's even in seawater in a low concentration. Brine is also a byproduct of huge powerplants, which can now use that as an electrolyte and a huge flow battery (which allows storage at the source).We welcome any business and equipment inquiries, as well as licensing our turbines for manufacturing.| CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@infinityturbine.com | RSS | AMP |