Water piped underground to power turbines at geothermal power plants could become a rich new source for lithium. There is a growing demand for its use in batteries.
The growing demand for lithium to power batteries on electric and hybrid cars can be at least partially met by extracting the comparatively rare element at geothermal power plants, according to new research.
The lightest metal on the periodic table is normally extracted from brine pools and geothermal ponds.
The majority of the world's lithium supplies come from Bolivia and other areas of the Andes in South America.
With a projected threefold increase in demand by 2020 from expanded manufacturing of lithium batteries, there is a rush to find new sources.
In a new technique developed by California-based Simbol Mining, about one ton of the mineral will be extracted each month from the wastewater produced at a geothermal power plant built on the San Andreas Fault southeast of Palm Springs.
If successful, the process could be used at other such facilities around the world.
Iceland geothermal plant photo: Gretar Ivarsson