Monday, November 25, 2019

New Zealand: Lithium Successfully Extracted from Ohaaki Geothermal Power Station Brine

Taupō company successfully extracts lithium from geothermal fluid (Stuff)

Geo40's commercial demonstration plant at Ohaaki.
A Taupō company has made a breakthrough in extracting near battery-grade lithium from geothermal fluid which its says could be a gamechanger.

Geo40 chief executive John Worth said the earth mineral was highly prized, with battery-grade lithium selling for US$10,000 (NZ$15,600) a tonne.

The commercial demonstration plant at Contact Energy's Ohaaki geothermal power station was originally built to extract silica, a mineral abundant in geothermal brines, but which blocks up pipes, Worth said.

Silica had to be removed before the lithium in geothermal brines could be extracted, he said.

Geo40 has been extracting silica for a some time, but the leap forward to lithium extraction was providing new commercial potential for the firm, he said.


From the Global Geothermal News archives: