Lithium Extraction & Conversion from Geothermal Brines — 10 Projects Get $10.9 Million From US Government

• Offices: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing Technologies (AMMTO) and the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO)
• Funding Amount: $10.9 Million
• FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002823

Description

On July 24, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced $10.9 million for 10 projects across nine states that will advance innovative technologies to extract and convert battery-grade lithium from geothermal brine sources in the United States. This work will increase America’s access to cost-effective, domestic sources of this critical material needed for batteries for stationary storage and electric vehicles to meet the Biden–Harris Administration’s goals of 50% electric vehicle adoption by 2030 and a net-zero emissions economy by 2050.

These projects are being managed in collaboration by EERE’s AMMTO and GTO. The projects add to a portfolio of recent investments such as AMMTO’s Critical Materials Institute — an Energy Innovation Hub led by Ames National Laboratory and GTO’s Geothermal Lithium Extraction Prize.

These projects will also further develop a DOE-led innovation ecosystem around lithium production as project participants will be invited to participate in the Lithium RD&D Virtual Center. The Center coordinates investment activity across industry, government, and academia.

Topic Areas

The 10 projects were selected from two topic areas:

1. Field Validation of Lithium Hydroxide Production from Geothermal Brines: Pilot or demonstration projects to validate cost-effective, innovative lithium extraction and lithium hydroxide conversion technologies.
2. Applied Research & Development for Direct Lithium Extraction from Geothermal Brines: Research and development projects to advance emerging direct lithium extraction (DLE) process technologies to increase efficiency, reduce waste generation, and/or reduce cost of DLE.

Selected Projects

Award and cost share amounts are subject to change, pending negotiations.

More Information

• Learn more about the original funding notice.
• Sign up for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) email list to get notified of new EERE funding opportunities. Also sign up for our newsletter to stay current with the latest news from AMMTO.

News update from Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy.

Featured image from the U.S. DOE.