Charged EVs | Controlled Thermal Resources recovers lithium from Hell’s Kitchen plant in California

Lithium products and renewable energy company Controlled Thermal Resources (CTR) reports that its engineering team has improved several process stages, including optimization of brine preparation, to achieve efficient lithium recovery in real time from the company’s Salton Sea geothermal brine resource in Imperial County, California. 

CTR says that after evaluating numerous direct lithium extraction technologies, such as ion exchange, adsorption and solvent extraction, it found that adsorption has significant advantages, including in capital and operating costs.

The company began the optimization program in the fall of 2022, incorporating controlled delivery of live brine to the front end of the lithium extraction process for purposes of verifying control systems and examining temperature characteristics. CTR expects to commence construction of Hell’s Kitchen Stage 1 this year, and anticipates delivery of 49.9 MW of clean electricity and 25,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide in 2024.

“We intend to repurpose the facility to optimize recovery of other critical minerals, including manganese, in parallel with our Stage 1 construction program,” says CTR CEO Rod Colwell.

: CTR via Green Car Congress