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EESA Scientists Contribute to DOE GTO Research on Critical Minerals2 min read

by Christina Procopiou on February 24, 2021

Energy Geosciences Division

 

Scientists in the Energy Geosciences Division are contributing to research sponsored by the DOE Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) investigating the potential extraction of lithium, rare earth elements, and other critical minerals that are dissolved constituents of hot geothermal brines that are used to produce  electricity. Far more information is currently needed, for instance, about the science of extracting lithium–the key ingredient in most batteries used to power electric cars and buildings–from geothermal brines, especially those found at the Salton Sea geothermal field in southern California.

Berkeley Lab Environmental Staff Engineer William Stringfellow and Pat Dobson, the laboratory’s Geothermal Systems Program Lead, have been reviewing technology and processes for the recovery and purification of lithium from geothermal brines for GTO, with the objective of enabling the integration of critical materials recovery with geothermal energy production. 

Earlier this month, the researchers presented a paper they authored that provides a review of Li extraction technologies that could be applied to geothermal brines to the 46th annual Stanford Geothermal Workshop. Dobson is now preparing to present information about a Berkeley Lab report summarizing the results of a retrospective analysis of GTO-funded studies focused on resource assessment and extraction techniques of critical materials in geothermal brines at a virtual annual meeting of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration on March 1-5.

“The potential that exists to source lithium domestically here in the U.S. is crucial to the nation in meeting its renewable energy goals, decarbonizing the transportation sector, as well as creating a domestic supply chain for this critical material,” said Dobson. “Now that large unconventional lithium resources have been identified in the U.S., the key challenge is to develop the basic science of extracting this critical mineral from such resources in a cost-competitive and environmentally friendly manner. The retrospective research being gathered for GTO is invaluable to these efforts.” 

News & Events

Chun Chang Places Second in Annual Berkeley Lab Pitch Competition3 min read

January 18, 2023

Commercializing Berkeley Lab inventions is an important part of the Lab’s mission, and one that requires strong communication skills. For example, Lab inventors need to be able to pitch their ideas to external partners and potential funders.  The annual Berkeley Lab Pitch Competition occurred on October 27, 2022 and is a part of an entrepreneurship…

EESA Scientists Collaborate With Universities to bring Environmental Science Research Opportunities and Training to Students Underrepresented in STEM3 min read

January 13, 2023

  EESA researchers are collaborators in three of the 41 projects awarded in December by DOE through its Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) initiative.  RENEW aims to build foundations for research at institutions that have been historically underrepresented in the Office of Science (SC) research portfolio. The initiative provides opportunities for undergraduate and…

New Report Explores Revolutionary Environmental Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure5 min read

January 10, 2023

In a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) and DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, as well as with community experts, the Artificial Intelligence for Earth System Predictability (AI4ESP) workshop was held from October through December 2021. BER developed the process as the Model-Experiment paradigm, or ModEx, and a report released this fall outlines the key takeaways of last year’s event.

A Q&A With Postdoc Kunxiaoja Yuan3 min read

January 4, 2023

  Kunxiaojia Yuan received her Bachelor’s of Engineering in remote sensing and Ph.D. in geographic information engineering from Wuhan University. She is a postdoctoral researcher in EESA, with a research focus on global carbon, energy, and water cycle analysis and model evaluation using machine learning and causal inference. What motivated you to pursue a postdoc…

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