Engineers from the AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow are working on innovative sorbents that will allow the recovery of lithium from reservoir waters during the extraction of crude oil and natural gas. Lithium is a very desirable element, necessary for the production of batteries that power electronic devices and electric vehicles.

With the world shifting away from fossil fuels in favor of low-carbon energy sources, the use of reservoir waters could revive old drilling wells. Such is the objective of AGH-UST engineers implementing the project “CompLithium – a technology for comprehensive recovery of lithium and utility water from waste deposit water”.

Lithium is a valuable metal that is used in industry, for example in the production of lubricants, glass and ceramics, and as a component of alloys used in aviation and aerospace. It is also used in lithium-ion batteries, which are equipped with portable electronic devices and vehicles powered by electric motors.

In nature, lithium is most often found in the form of salt. The largest producers in the world (including Argentina and Chile) use simple technology to obtain it. Emerged under the pressure, the brines form huge pools from which the water evaporates due to the heat. Lithium salts are obtained from the brine concentrated in this way, using various precipitation techniques.

One of the most important goals of Krakow scientists is to develop an innovative sorbent based on aluminium and titanium oxides, which would capture lithium from post-process deposit waters. This will avoid the formation of salt deserts in the lithium extraction areas.

Scientists plan that the sorption columns will be an element of innovative, comprehensive equipment installed in oil and natural gas production plants. In one process, it would recover lithium and freshwater from the brine, which could later be used, for example, to irrigate the surrounding crops.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński