CRM-GEOTHERMAL
Raw materials from
geothermal fluids
Ocurrence · Enrichment · Extraction
Combining the extraction of raw materials and geothermal heat.
Vision.
To develop an innovative technology solution which combines the extraction of Critical Raw Materials (CRM) and energy from geothermal fluids to decrease the European Union’s dependency on imported resources, supporting the EU Green Deal.
The challenge.
Energy and digital transformations necessitate a significant amount of mineral raw resources, some of which are classified as 'critical' by the European Union. These Critical Raw Materials (CRM) are primarily imported from non-European nations with less stringent environmental and ethical standards than the EU. The EU, on the other hand, has mostly untapped resources in geothermal fluids, some of which include high levels of CRMs.
Raw Material Scarcity
High Depedence on Imported CRMs
Indispensable for Clean Technologies
Approach & solutions.
The overall goal of the CRM-Geothermal approach is to extract valuable components (particularly critical raw materials) from the water, gas, and solid phases using deep geothermal brines from geothermal power plants.
This innovative mining concept will be tackled from five different perspectives:
- Screening and mapping of CRM content in geothermal settings.
- Geological controls of CRM mobility, source and long-term sustainability.
- Development and optimisation of technologies and processes to extract CRM from geothermal fluids.
- Deployment of the combined extraction of CRM and energy from geothermal reservoirs.
- Testing, validation, integration (of design requirements, systems and components).
Pilot Site
Extraction materials and processes tested in realistic industrial settings.
The extraction materials and processes will be tested at a pilot facility in Cornwall, which is currently designed for heat generation and is also investigating Li co-production. The field-scale testing will be conducted with a 'miniplant,' which includes all of the extraction process phases in a modular, mobile plant. A part of the generated fluids are diverted for extraction by the miniplant.
The pilot site will also be utilised to test the proposed Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) impact assessment methodologies, and data from the experiments will be used to feed economic model tests.
Our role.
Inlecom brings its extensive expertise in Artificial Intelligence, Modelling, and Simulation systems to the project. Our goal is to harness the power of AI to deliver substantial value to the geothermal sector. This will be done through pre-processing the fluid Atlas data in preparation for future analysis and modelling and exploring machine learning techniques to accurately estimate lithium concentration by capturing the underlying patterns and intricacies of fluid and rock data. Last but not least, our efforts are focused on developing a cutting-edge predictive maintenance approach to ensure the efficiency of geothermal plants.
This project has received funding from the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under GA 101058163. Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
