CMI sorbents and forward osmosis reduce environmental impacts

CMI sorbents and forward osmosis boost lithium economics
Net Cash Flow for LiOH and Li2CO3 production (for augmented geo-thermal plant across its life).

CMI researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Purdue University conducted the research for this highlight

Achievement
Techno economic analysis (TEA) of LiOH and Li2CO3 production using CMI sorbent and membrane technologies points to a green and profitable approach for recovering lithium from geothermal brines.

Significance and impact

  • Geothermal brine is one of the promising resources to enable a sufficient domestic supply of lithium for batteries for electric vehicles.
  • Based on the CAPEX and OPEX, the pay back period is only one year.
  • TEA coupled with LCA project the respective production of Li2CO3 and LiOH to be 16,000 tpa and 10,372 tpa by assuming plant operation of 330 days in a year and plant life of 20 year for each 50 MW geothermal plant. 

Details and next steps
This work can be extended to recovery of lithium from clay minerals and ambient brines.