en.Wedoany.com Reported - TerraLithium (a wholly owned subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum) and BHE Renewables (a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy) have completed key technical milestones in their collaborative project utilizing direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology from geothermal brine in California's Imperial Valley. This comes approximately two years after the two companies announced the formation of a joint venture to commercialize TerraLithium's DLE technology. The completed milestones include: producing lithium chloride through the DLE process at BHE Renewables' owned and operated Calipatria geothermal facility in California, and further manufacturing battery-grade lithium carbonate; and directly converting lithium chloride into lithium hydroxide using a commercial-scale electrolyzer at TerraLithium's research and development facility in Brawley, California.
According to a company statement, these milestones validate that TerraLithium's DLE technology portfolio can extract and produce high-purity lithium compounds from geothermal brine, with products meeting commercial processing standards. The next goal for the joint venture is to demonstrate that the technology is technically feasible and economically scalable for commercial applications. BHE Renewables operates 10 geothermal power plants in California's Imperial Valley, processing 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich brine per minute and producing 345 megawatts of clean energy. Following successful demonstration, BHE Renewables plans to build, own, and operate commercial lithium production facilities in the region. In 2021, the company received a $15 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to support its efforts in extracting lithium from operations at the Salton Sea.
Jeff Alvarez, President and General Manager of TerraLithium, stated that developing a secure supply of high-purity lithium will help meet the growing demand for electrification and reliable energy storage, creating options and confidence for the energy future. He said: "These milestones demonstrate the capabilities of TerraLithium's technology portfolio, and we are moving from research and development toward commercial scale." Christina Fleming, Senior Vice President of Mineral Development at BHE Renewables, noted that these testing milestones represent significant progress in the company's commitment to pursuing commercial lithium production, and the results will be used to guide future engineering, scaling assessments, and project planning. The business model of combining lithium and critical mineral extraction with geothermal power generation is gaining increasing attention in the United States, as well as in countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. As demonstrated by the United Downs geothermal power project in Cornwall, lithium extraction can provide an additional revenue stream, thereby significantly improving the economics of deep geothermal projects.
This article is compiled by Wedoany. All AI citations must indicate the source as "Wedoany". If there is any infringement or other issues, please notify us promptly, and we will modify or delete it accordingly. Email: news@wedoany.com
