Can you imagine that combustion engine cars and electric cars work by extracting resources from the same deposit? This could soon become a reality. The industrial extraction of lithium in oil fields is getting closer and closer, a way of valorizing resources while trying to reduce the impact on the environment (two key resources for mobility are extracted from the same hole or well) . Oil consumption remains extremely high. Although demand growth is slowing, it has not yet peaked. In contrast, demand for lithium has exploded in recent years thanks to electric cars and the growing use of lithium-ion batteries to store electricity. In this way, the same site that has been “guilty” of much of the pollution of the atmosphere could also be part of the solution.
Even if the most serious and promising projects are carried out in the United States, several Chinese experts published this year a paper title “Origin of lithium in the oil field brines of the Continental Petroleum Basin” in which they present a clear theoretical framework for the extraction of lithium brines from oil fields, which would be essential “to meet global demand in the decades to come”. But it is in the United States that the most successful tests are carried out in a deposit which seems to meet all the parameters to become a rich source of lithium extraction.
Lithium-rich brines
As they explain in a new report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, “Oil and gas formations often contain brines that contain lithium. The Smackover Formation, which extends widely from east Texas to Florida, is ground zero for this effort to produce lithium from oil fields. brines. Oil was discovered in. this area of Arkansas since Smackover over 100 years agoand the brines found there contain high concentrations of bromine and lithium,” explain Michael Plante, Vaughn Hajra and Sasha Samperio, researchers at the Dallas Fed.
Recently, it was observed that The saltwater brine in some oil wells can accumulate up to 95% lithium carbonate.which sparked the interest of mining companies. Commercial interest in lithium from this Smackover Formation is relatively recent, beginning less than 10 years ago. A handful of companies are developing technology that could be used by other companies to operate in the region and extract the valuable lithium. Two companies have publicly announced their intention to start commercial production in the coming years: oil major ExxonMobil and Standard Lithium, in partnership with Norwegian energy producer Equinor.
Interest in the extraction of this lithium has extended to Cass, Franklin, Morris and Titus Counties. “While commercial production is unlikely in the immediate future, exploratory work has revealed very high lithium concentrations in certain wells test. If these results prove representative of the eastern Texas flank of the formation, greater activity is expected in the future,” explains the Dallas Fed.
Although the best days of oil production are now in the past at Smackover, bromine production remains significant. It is mainly used as a flame retardant, in fire extinguishers and as a flame retardant in furniture and fabrics, as explained by the CSIC. Additionally, its production depends on a well-established infrastructure for brine transportation, production and processing.
Extraction of lithium from oil fields
A distinctive feature of the campaign to produce lithium at Smackover is the technology used. Lithium is typically produced using large evaporation ponds or from hard rock mines. None of these technologies are applicable to Smackover or other basins in the region. Instead, the companies plan to use what’s called direct lithium extraction (DLE).. Dallas Fed experts explain that DLE is an umbrella term for a variety of technologies aimed at extracting lithium from brines without the need for large evaporation ponds. In addition to oilfield brines, this technique is being tested in projects involving extraction from other unconventional sources, including geothermal brines and salt lakes (such as Utah’s Great Salt Lake).
“Early research on DLE began in the 1970s and 1980s. but successful marketing resisted. Many companies have produced small quantities of lithium, but doing so in sufficient quantity and quality to be profitable has been a challenge. As a result, there is an inherent uncertainty about the final results of projects using LED,” these experts admit.
However, as technology advances, hope grows that this process can be carried out on a large scale, massively and cost-effectively: “If the obstacles to Smackover can be overcome, this could lead to a dramatic increase in domestic production lithium” in Australia and Chile. and China are the main producers of lithium, while the United States represents only a small part of the global supply. In the United States, only Silver Peak, Nevada, produces lithium in significant quantities.
The Permian Basin, rich in oil and (perhaps) lithium
Not all oil wells or deposits are rich in lithium, far from it. “It depends on the presence of large quantities of brine with sufficient concentration of lithium.” For example, the Permian Basin, which is the epicenter of oil and gas activity in the United States, also produces a substantial amount brine as an unwanted (wasted) by-product. “This appears to make the region an ideal candidate for DLE application, as existing oil and gas activities mitigate the cost of drilling wells specifically for brine,” the experts explain.
However, these positives that initially sparked the expectation have been dampened somewhat after subsequent studies appear to reveal that the concentration of lithium in Permian Basin brines appears lower than that found at Smackover. “Therefore, interest in the Permian Basin is limited, although several companies are testing DLE technologies there”underlines in a report from the Dallas Fed.
The outlook appears generally unfavorable elsewhere, according to a recent study by the Bureau of Economic Geology at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin, because it does not appear easy to find oil deposits and wells containing large quantities of lithium. in brines. This organization’s study used several sources of information to better understand the potential for lithium production: “It was found that most basins have low concentrations of lithium or produce little brine,” they specify. However, these explorations are still in their infancy and much remains to be studied, so the door to this new production method is still open.
