| Title | Updates to the model of lithium extraction from the Salton Sea geothermal field |
|---|---|
| Authors | J. OSullivan, T. Renaud, J. Popineau, J. Riffault |
| Year | 2024 |
| Conference | New Zealand Geothermal Workshop |
| Keywords | Geothermal reservoir simulation, Salton Sea, Lithium, Chloride, Imperial Valley, Waiwera |
| Abstract | The Salton Sea Geothermal Field (SSGF) is one of the largest geothermal resources in the world with an estimated resource potential of nearly 3 GW (Kaspereit et al., 2016). It has only been partially exploited due to its high salinity and partial coverage by the Salton Sea. Stakeholders are now focused on better exploiting the field for geothermal energy production and using the lithium-rich geothermal brine as a source of lithium for battery production. Our numerical model of the SSGF has been used to investigate different options for optimising the extraction of lithium from the system. The model has a chloride-NCGwater equation of state with lithium represented as a passive tracer (Araya and O’Sullivan, 2022, Dobson et al., 2023, O’Sullivan et al., 2023a). It uses a dual porosity approach for the production history and future scenarios to provide an accurate representation of reinjection returns and chemical breakthrough by reinjection fluid that is dilute in lithium. Publicly available data has been used to calibrate both the natural state and production history models. Most recently future scenarios were run to investigate the influence of the location of reinjection wells on both pressure support and lithium concentrations in the produced geothermal brine. They showed that lithium production can be enhanced without adversely affecting energy production by careful targeting of reinjection. The results of the simulations show the importance of careful monitoring, robust modelling and detailed planning for supporting the extraction of lithium from the SSGF. To enhance the robustness of the modelling of the SSGF a new round of model development was initiated this year with the support of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the US Department of Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office. The details of the model development and the forward plan are presented here. |