Stuttgart/Bruchsal - Lithium is one of the most important raw materials of our time. However, the demand for lithium in Germany, which is primarily required for battery production, has to be covered almost entirely by imports. In order to reduce this dependence on raw materials, research teams in Baden-Württemberg and Lower Saxony are working on lithium production from geothermal plants. The great potential of this raw material extraction for the whole of Germany has now been demonstrated at the "Geothermal Lithium" workshop at EnBW in Karlsruhe.
In the "UnLimited" and "Li+Fluids" research projects, the project teams have been working intensively on direct lithium extraction (DLE) from deep waters for four years. This research is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The aim of the "Li+Fluids" project is to produce a comprehensive study of the potential for extracting lithium from deep waters in Germany.
At the geothermal power plant in Bruchsal, researchers in the "UnLimited" project have developed and patented a new lithium extraction process. Not only does it require significantly less water and energy than previous processes, it also ensures that the lithium is so pure that no further purification is necessary - a real breakthrough for the future of electromobility.
The workshop on direct lithium extraction, which can also be used elsewhere in Germany, opened with an overview of the battery raw materials situation and the development of the lithium market. The workshop went on to focus on current research activities into geothermal lithium extraction in the Upper Rhine Graben. The project partners demonstrated the great potential of the Upper Rhine Graben, as well as the North German Basin, for domestic lithium extraction from deep water.
In the presence of Andre Baumann, State Secretary in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector, and Cornelia Petzold-Schick, Mayor of the large district town of Bruchsal, the results presented from both projects showed that lithium extraction using the DLE process is already technically feasible under real conditions and that lithium can already be extracted in attractive quantities on a pilot scale. And as the conclusion of the technical presentations showed, lithium extraction using the DLE process in Germany is absolutely competitive on an international scale. In the future, the Bruchsal geothermal plant alone could extract enough lithium to produce around 20,000 batteries for electric cars.
In the subsequent panel discussion entitled "Can geothermal lithium from Germany contribute to domestic battery production?
The opportunities and challenges for sustainable and economically viable lithium production along the value chain were discussed with experts from industry and science. The experts highlighted the need for policymakers to focus intensively on the strategic importance of battery production in Germany.
On the following day, the participants from industry, politics and science were able to get a first-hand impression of EnBW's DLE pilot plant during an excursion to the Bruchsal geothermal power plant and learn about its successful integration into the existing geothermal plant.
Hydrosion