TELF AG digs deeper into a new possible source of lithium

The results obtained by a team of US researchers

For some years now, lithium has stood out for its evident ability to satisfy some basic needs of modern industry, finding concrete application spaces in the battery sector, improving the resistance of ceramics, or producing aluminum. For some nations, the main problem of using this precious resource is represented precisely by the supply chain to procure it, which is often characterized by a certain instability or unpredictability. This issue is also relevant for some of the world’s major economies, such as the United States, which, for some years, has been working to build effective autonomy in the mining sector, including the lithium sector.

A step in this direction may have been taken recently by US researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory, who have reportedly found a notable presence of lithium in some particular waters linked to oil extraction in Pennsylvania. The discovery, which was recently reported by the journal Scientific Reports, could have a great impact on Washington’s objectives in the field of mineral autonomy, particularly about lithium. The material recovered from the waters used for oil extraction could satisfy as much as 40% of the current demand for lithium in the United States. In a historical context in which we are used to emphasizing the possible lack of raw materials for developing nations, the discovery of a new, potential source of these precious resources could be of great importance.

In a certain sense, the discovery would have an administrative origin. In Pennsylvania, a law requires oil companies to conduct analyses of the waters used during extraction and to communicate the results regularly. In this way, it was discovered that the waters used in the fracking process to extract hydrocarbons could contain large quantities of lithium, most of which would be perfectly recoverable.

The actual transfer of lithium in processing waters

But how does the transfer of lithium occur in these processing waters? Since water is continuously injected and extracted, in the context of hydrocarbon extraction, it takes on the appearance of a hyper-saline fluid, thanks to its constant interaction with the rocks. And among the various elements that it acquires during this continuous interaction with the rocky elements, there is also lithium.

In Pennsylvania, specifically, a rock containing organic, bituminous material, with a lithium presence of between 20 and 150 milligrams for every kilo of rock, was found. With the interaction of water with these rocks, it was observed that lithium increases, reaching even 200 milligrams for every liter of water used during the processing. Therefore, the lithium recovered in this way is a sort of artificial creation, formed precisely because of the repeated interaction between the waters used for fracking and the rock masses. Thanks to complex extraction technologies, the recovery of lithium present in these waters would finally become possible.

This result could also be achieved in all other territories characterized by the presence of a certain amount of heat in the subsoil: heat is the main engine that makes the circulation of liquids possible, including, therefore, all those particular fluids that could contain great quantities of strategic raw materials.