A £4m pilot plant which will extract valuable lithium from superheated underground water in Cornwall is expected to be ready within months.
GeoCubed, the joint venture between Cornish Lithium Ltd and Geothermal Engineering Ltd (GEL), has just selected Basingstoke's Ross-shire Engineering Ltd (RSE) to provide engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) support for the pilot plant due to be commissioned at United Downs by the end of March 2022.
The £4m scheme is being supported by the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) with £2.9m from the 海角视频 Government’s Getting Building Fund for “shovel-ready” projects.
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GeoCubed appointed RSE due to its previous experience supporting development of innovative technology from pilot plants through to commercialisation.
It is also a full-service contractor, able to deliver the majority of the requirements of the pilot plant in-house and its support will be invaluable in designing and integrating the Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) technology module, provided by technology firm GeoLith, into an operational plant.
The DLE module has now arrived at RSE’s site in Darlington and the company is integrating the module into the pilot plant ahead of its delivery to the United Downs Geothermal Testing Facility. The pilot plant is expected to pave the way for full-scale production of the valuable battery metal in Cornwall.
In August 2021 Cornish Lithium and GeoCubed worked together to collect a bulk sample of geothermal water during an Electrical Submersible Pump test conducted by GEL at the United Downs Deep Geothermal Project (UDDGP). The fluid collected will primarily be used to feed the pilot plant for the purposes of evaluating the DLE technologies.
Lithium concentrations were described as “encouraging” and other key by-products such as caesium, rubidium and potassium were shown to be at high levels.
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Importantly, deleterious elements, which can negatively impact the processing of waters through DLE technologies and the quality of the final lithium product, were exceptionally low. Magnesium levels were low, transition metals such as iron were shown to be negligible, and silicon concentrations were also low.
Jeremy Wrathall, chief executive and founder of Cornish Lithium and a director of GeoCubed, said: “The GeoCubed team has established a strong relationship with the team at RSE and we look forward to working with them to successfully deliver this pilot plant, which will provide vital operational data to inform and enable the construction of a commercial scale plant.
“This will place Cornwall at the forefront of lithium production, as the 海角视频 strives to secure a domestic supply of this critical battery metal.
“It was also reassuring to see that the assay results from the Deep Geothermal Water samples confirmed the lithium concentrations observed in earlier test work.
“The continued low levels of deleterious elements is also good news and will be beneficial as we utilise the pilot plant to establish the most appropriate processing technologies for Cornish geothermal waters.”
Ryan Law, managing director and founder of GEL and a director of GeoCubed, said: “This is another step forward towards the establishment of geothermal lithium extraction in Cornwall. We look forward to seeing the results of this next stage of the project as we move forward towards full scale, commercial direct lithium extraction.”
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Mark Duddridge, chair of the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP, said: “We share the ambition for Cornwall to lead the domestic production of lithium as part of the 海角视频’s energy transition. The LEP has committed £2.9m of Getting Building Fund investment towards the pilot plant and we look forward to seeing it commissioned in the next few months.”
Mark Livingston, RSE director of products, technology and modular solutions, said: “RSE are really excited by the opportunity to continue our collaborative working relationship with the GeoCubed team in the next development stage of this new innovative lithium production process. We pride ourselves in being a business at the forefront of embracing new technologies which support the sustainable and secure growth of the 海角视频 economy.”
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