Lithium Valley is an area adjacent to the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gu ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

, United States, with enormous deposits of

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

. Due to increased demand for lithium, which is a crucial component for batteries used for

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

s and energy storage, the area is attracting attention, and the extraction of lithium is expected to boost the economy of

Imperial County Imperial Count (german: Reichsgraf) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. In the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from ...

. The area is exceptionally well-suited due to the ability to mine the lithium while generating

geothermal power Geothermal power is electrical power generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power stations, flash steam power stations and binary cycle power stations. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 2 ...

. There are already 11 geothermal power plants utilizing the Salton Sea Geothermal Field.

Lithium production

The

geothermal activity Geothermal activity is a group of natural heat transfer processes, occurring on Earth's surface, caused by the presence of excess heat in the subsurface of the affected area. Geothermal activity can manifest itself in a variety of different phen ...

below the Salton Sea loosens up

that can be mined. The

California Energy Commission The California Energy Commission, formally the Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, is the primary energy policy and planning agency for California. Created in 1974 and headquartered in Sacramento, the Commission'core respon ...

estimates the Salton Sea might produce 600,000 metric tons of

lithium carbonate Lithium carbonate is an inorganic compound, the lithium salt of carbonate with the formula . This white salt is widely used in the processing of metal oxides. It is listed on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines because it ...

() per year, of a reserve of 3.4 million tonnes. The Salton Sea geothermal brine reservoir is located at depths of approximately below ground and contains fluids at temperatures ranging from 250 °C to 380 °C. Among other valuable minerals, the

brine Brine is a high-concentration Solution (chemistry), solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of ...

contains

(202 ppm ± 20% , i.e. more than in the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

, which is 30-40 ppm),

rubidium Rubidium is the chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. It is a very soft, whitish-grey solid in the alkali metal group, similar to potassium and caesium. Rubidium is the first alkali metal in the group to have a density hig ...

(110 ppm ± 47%),

cesium Caesium ( IUPAC spelling) (or cesium in American English) is a chemical element with the symbol Cs and atomic number 55. It is a soft, silvery-golden alkali metal with a melting point of , which makes it one of only five elemental metals that ...

(19.8 ppm ± 15%), and

bromine Bromine is a chemical element with the symbol Br and atomic number 35. It is the third-lightest element in group 17 of the periodic table (halogens) and is a volatile red-brown liquid at room temperature that evaporates readily to form a simil ...

(91 ppm ± 31% vs 5000 ppm in the

). The lake also comprises chloride, sodium, calcium, potassium, and other low-value minerals that are difficult to separate. All these minerals add up to the total salinity of 24.3 ± 2.8%. The Lithium Valley Commission was created under the California Energy Commission in September 2020 to explore and expand the emerging lithium recovery industry.

Projects

In 2016, the Australian firm Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) announced plans to build a 140 MW geothermal power plant and a lithium extraction facility capable of producing 15,000 tons (13,600 tonnes) by 2023 and 75,000 tons (68,000 tonnes) by 2027. The company hopes to create a major new domestic source of the mineral. General Motors announced a strategic partnership with CTR in 2021 to secure a local supply of lithium. The majority of the battery-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate for the Ultium battery will come from this plant. Controlled Thermal Resources is developing a combined lithium extraction and power generation facility in the Hell's Kitchen geothermal field employing a closed-loop process.

Brine Brine is a high-concentration Solution (chemistry), solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of ...

will be extracted from the ground, with geothermal steam being used to drive a turbine generating electricity, and reacting with the brine to separate the

lithium hydroxide Lithium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula LiOH. It can exist as anhydrous or hydrated, and both forms are white hygroscopic solids. They are soluble in water and slightly soluble in ethanol. Both are available commercially. Whi ...

and

used for battery production.

Berkshire Hathaway Energy Berkshire Hathaway Energy (previously known as MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company until 2014) is a holding company that is 92% owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire has owned a controlling stake since 1999. The company also controls power dist ...

has a subsidiary that operates 10 geothermal plants in the area. Berkshire's BHE Renewables division plans to open a lithium carbonate pilot plant.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{Cite magazine , last=Bernick , first=Michael , date=December 12, 2023 , title=The Jobs Perplex Of The Lithium Valley , url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbernick/2023/12/12/the-jobs-perplex-of-the-lithium-valley/ , access-date=2024-02-05 , magazine=Forbes , language=en , archive-date=February 5, 2024 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205065011/https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelbernick/2023/12/12/the-jobs-perplex-of-the-lithium-valley/ , url-status=live {{Cite news, last1=James, first1=Ian, last2=Roth, first2=Sammy, year=2017, title=Salton Sea: Two paths for long-term fixes at California's shrinking sea, url=https://www.desertsun.com/pages/interactives/salton-sea/two-paths-for-long-term-fixes-at-californias-shrinking-sea/, access-date=February 8, 2021, work=The Desert Sun, language=en, archive-date=January 22, 2021, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122120152/https://www.desertsun.com/pages/interactives/salton-sea/two-paths-for-long-term-fixes-at-californias-shrinking-sea/, url-status=live

External links

Lithium Valley
County of Imperial
Lithium Valley Commission
California Energy Commission
Lithium StoryMap
Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, United States Department of Energy Lithium mining Imperial Valley Salton Sea Renewable energy in California Mining in California

Lithium production

Projects

See also

References

External links