New partnership announced for large-scale lithium-geothermal project in California

In a release today, geothermal developer Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) announced the launch of the company’s $1.8-billion Hell’s Kitchen lithium-geothermal project at the CG/LA North American Infrastructure Leadership Forum.

The project’s available lithium carbonate equivalent is estimated at approximately 76,000 tonnes per annum and will use 100 percent renewable baseload geothermal power. Engineering group Hatch has been and will continue to support the project’s technology development and will provide engineering and project execution services.

“With such prolific brine and lithium concentration in the geothermal brine, the Hell’s Kitchen geothermal power and lithium project will revolutionize the way the world seeks to meet the growing lithium demand,” said Adel Muna, Hatch’s global director of Thermal Power. “This new, clean technology will reduce waste and help combat climate change, while producing a commercially viable and very much in-demand product.”

The project is located within the Salton Sea region, a known geothermal resource area in the Imperial Valley, California, USA. Commercial operation is anticipated by late 2022.

“What makes the Salton Sea resource unique is the availability of abundant amounts of geothermal steam, which allows the concentration of lithium products to occur at the time of extraction. The by-product of all of this is clean, green lithium products and 100 percent renewable, baseload geothermal energy,” said Rod Colwell, CEO, CTR.

The geothermal brine real-time selective extractant process—a first-ever use of this technology for the extraction of lithium from geothermal brine—will be fast, significantly less water intensive, compact, and have a higher recovery rate.

Source: Company release