Lithium Extraction from Oil Field Brine
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With a global imperative for the transition to renewable energy as part of the effort to reduce climate change, electric vehicles (EVs) have become a vital part of a switch to clean energy technologies. To enable EVs to have comparable mileage to conventional fossil fuel-powered vehicles, lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide batteries have become the standard for powering EVs due to their high energy density and storage capacity. However, with lithium being a relatively rare element that requires significant effort to mine from the earth, technologies to extract lithium from other sources are becoming increasingly attractive to companies interested in batteries and the clean energy sector. The extraction of lithium ions from wastewater oil brines has become a promising technology on larger scales due to the favorable economics associated with the construction of several pilot production plants in various oil fields. Here, we propose a lithium ion production plant capable of producing 5,000 metric tons of lithium contained within lithium sulfate annually. Oil brine will be sourced from the Smackover formation in Arkansas and East Texas, where reports have demonstrated lithium concentration in some brines exceeding 500 milligrams of lithium per liter of brine. Lithium extraction from the brine will occur using a sorbent bed capable of highly selectively binding lithium ions. The sorbent composition is obtained from a patent by E3 Lithium, a company that is currently operating a similar lithium extraction plant within Alberta’s oil sands [1]. The final product of the plant will be anhydrous lithium sulfate. The processing and purification of lithium sulfate to produce lithium carbonate is factored into the cost but is outside of the scope of this production plant. The project statement assumes the plant will be associated with an oil extraction plant and will process the brine as it is pumped up with the oil. This means that the pumping of oil brine to the surface and back into the ground is also outside of the scope of this plant; however, it is included in the CAPEX ($24 MM). Based on assumptions from project author Dr. Richard Bockrath, the plant lifetime will be 20 years, the incoming oil brine will have a lithium ion concentration of 500 mg/L, and the processing and purification price of lithium sulfate will be $20 per kilogram. Using these parameters and assuming a discount rate of 15%, this production plant is estimated to have an ROI of 199%, an IRR of 148%, and an NPV of $685,000,000. These values are revisited in the sensitivity analyses where purification costs are the dominant driving factor.