The JV will pursue development of additional commercial lithium production facilities beyond Imperial Valley and license the technology. (Source: Shutterstock)
Occidental Petroleum (OXY) is partnering with Berkshire Hathaway Energy’s BHE Renewables to extract lithium from geothermal brine, the energy producer said June 4.
The joint venture (JV) takes shape as companies aim to meet growing demand for lithium, a key ingredient for rechargeable batteries used for electronics, energy storage and electric vehicles (EVs). Focus for traditional oil and gas players entering the space has been on direct lithium extraction (DLE), a proven—though not yet at scale—technology that uses either adsorption, ion exchange or solvent extraction to remove the critical metal from brine.
Occidental subsidiary TerraLithium has patented DLE technologies that process lithium-containing brine into high-purity lithium and has already started a project at BHE Renewables’ Imperial Valley geothermal facility. The two aim to demonstrate the feasibility of using the TerraLithium DLE technology to produce lithium in an environmentally safe manner, Occidental said in a news release.
Warren Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway owns 28.3% of Occidental Petroleum.
“Creating a secure, reliable and domestic supply of high-purity lithium products to help meet growing global lithium demand is essential for the energy transition,” said Jeff Alvarez, president and general manager of TerraLithium. “The partnership with BHE Renewables will enable the joint venture to accelerate the development of our direct lithium extraction and associated technologies and advance them toward commercial lithium production.”
Upon successful demonstration, BHE Renewables plans to build, own and operate commercial lithium production facilities in Southern California’s Imperial Valley, according to the release.
Iowa-headquartered BHE operates 10 geothermal power plants in Imperial Valley, where the company said it recovers heated geothermal brine from reservoirs up to a mile or more belowground to create steam that spins a turbine, creating electricity.
The JV will pursue development of additional commercial lithium production facilities beyond Imperial Valley and license the technology.
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DLE is considered a more environmentally friendly method of lithium extraction, requiring less land and extraction time when compared to traditional methods involving hard rock mining and use of solar evaporation ponds.
However, the technology is not without barriers despite the resource potential.
“A 2023 [Department of Energy] study assumed 198 ppm at the Salton Sea, which is an encouraging start, but it is fair to recognize that extraction of lithium from geothermal brines comes with several unique challenges that include high levels of associated minerals and heat,” TD Cowen analysts said in a note June 4. “For OXY, the JV is a win-win as BHE appears to bear most of the capital risk for OXY to prove its DLE concept.”
BHE said the JV is working to refine the DLE process further to ensure it achieves performance outcomes before moving to commercial production.
“We are focused on process economics and making sure the process is environmentally safe and beneficial for the Imperial Valley Community,” BHE said on its website.
BHE currently processes about 50,000 gallons of lithium-rich brine per minute to produce 345 megawatts of energy from its Imperial Valley plants.
The company said it expects to produce about 90,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalents (LCE) per year—equivalent to about 11 million EV car batteries annually—from its existing geothermal plants.
Analysts put the timeline toward the end of the decade, if successful.
“By that point, BHE’s lithium production would aggregate to 3% of total demand,” TD Cowen analysts said. “By reference, the most active DLE development in the U.S. currently, operated by Standard Lithium in the AR Smackover, targets an initial plant that processes 3k gpm [gallons per minute] of brine for ~6ktpa of LCE production, suggesting that lithium concentration at BHE’s Salton Sea assets is fairly analogous.”
Besides Occidental and Standard Lithium, others advancing DLE projects in the U.S. include Exxon Mobil and Albemarle. Other notables in the space include efforts by International Battery Metals to install what is expected to be North America’s first commercial modular DLE plant on a US Magnesium site in Utah. Controlled Thermal Resources Holdings also began constructing a large-scale DLE plant earlier this year near California’s Salton Sea area.
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