Description
This work evaluates, develops and demonstrates flexible, scalable mineral extraction technology for geothermal brines based upon solid phase sorbent materials with a specific focus upon rare earth elements (REEs). The selected organic and inorganic sorbent materials demonstrated high performance for collection of trace REEs, precious and valuable metals beyond commercially available sorbents. This report details the organic and inorganic sorbent uptake, performance, and collection efficiency results for La, Eu, Ho, Ag, Cu and Zn, as well as the characterization of these select sorbent materials.
The report also contains estimated costs from an in-depth techno-economic analysis of a scaled up separation process. The estimated financial payback period for installing this equipment varies between 3.3 to 5.7 years depending on the brine flow rate of the geothermal resource.
Resources
| Name | Format | Description | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance of Advanced Sorbents.xlsx | XLS | Spreadsheet descibing performance of several advanced sorbents for REE recovery from geothermal waters. Tests done in hot spring water, river water, sea water, desalination brine, synthetic geothermal brine, Great Salt Lake water, and diluted Great Salt Lake water. | Open resource |
| Techno-Economic Analyis.xlsx | XLS | Spreadsheet detailing techno-economic analysis used to calculate financial returns of mineral extraction from geothermal water using advanced sorbents. | Open resource |
| Final Technical Report.pdf | FY16 Final Technical Report titled "Evaluation of Advanced Sorbent Structures for Recovery of Rare Earths, Precious Metals and other Critical Materials from geothermal Waters - Preliminary Results" | Open resource |