Energy Exploration Technologies Awarded $5 Million Grant from US DOE to Extract Lithium from Geothermal Brine
July 26, 2023
Written By Karl Kalbacher, PG
The US Department of Energy (US DOE) announced today that Energy Exploration Technologies (EX) out of Austin, TX has won a $5 million competitive grant from the FY22 AMMTO-GTO Lithium Extraction and Conversion from Geothermal Brines competition to demonstrate and validate cost-effective, innovative lithium extraction and lithium hydroxide conversion technologies.
The project combines (EX)'s advanced lithium recovery process technology with their partner's geothermal power generation process to extract commercial quantities of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHMH) from the Salton Sea geothermal field. Doing so will allow for an efficient, simplified, low water use, lower greenhouse gas footprint and low-cost lithium hydroxide production from geothermal brines suitable for application to other domestic lithium resources.
This pilot demonstration will allow EX to scale up for additional optimization onsite and performance testing and will provide the data necessary to further commercialization.
The project expects to achieve capital and operating expense reductions of at least 30%, provide for the economic development of currently non-viable U.S. domestic lithium resources, accelerate commercialization of a domestic supply of battery grade LHMH, and conserve 30 metric tons of water per metric ton of lithium carbonate equivalent.
The total project cost is $10.2 million.
Kalbacher Associates (KA) was pleased to prepare with EX the grant application. We welcome the opportunity to support your grant application needs in the renewable energy and energy efficiency space.
