Ion-Exchange Membranes Extract Lithium From North Sea Oilfield Brines
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: September 2024

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This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 215585, “Lithium Extraction From North Sea Oilfield Brines Using Ion-Exchange Membranes,” by Botelho Disu, Roozbeh Rafati, and Amin S. Haddad, University of Aberdeen, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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The annual demand for lithium for low-carbon technology applications has been growing exponentially. A necessity exists in the current environment for continuous lithium production from both conventional sources and novel extraction sites from alternative brine resources such as oil fields and geothermal sites. in the complete paper, the lithium potentiality of the UK North Sea is evaluated.

Identification of North Sea Lithium-Rich Oil and Gas Fields

Maps show lithium-ion concentration diffusing from 55 ppm in the western region into low concentrations in the central, northern, and eastern regions of the UK North Sea. Such estimates suggest lithium enrichment in oilfield brine from the Beatrice, Clymore, Gannet, Cly, Auk, and Flumar fields. However, because such map distribution of lithium is achieved based only on one-third of the imputed data, a correlative evaluation with the entire body of data is needed to provide a much more feasible interpretation.

When lithium distribution was evaluated simultaneously with strontium/iron/potassium (Sr/Fe/K) total dissolved solids, the rich brine was primarily located across the central, eastern, southern, and western fields. The central and eastern concentrations were estimated to have a lithium-rich brine with concentrations of up to 40 ppm, with lithium-ion presence gradually increasing toward the east. Most of the fields in this region are oil fields, including Montrose, Arbroath, Ula, Nelson, Brisling, Gyda, Ekofisk, and Bream, with Harald possibly being the only gas field with lithium-enriched brine. On the other hand, the lithium-rich fields in the southern and western regions are all gas fields, including the Esmond, Anglia, Lemman, Ann, and Viking fields.

Statement of Theory and Definition

The economic feasibility of lithium extraction from brine has been observed to be a function of its initial concentration. For oilfield brines, when using novel direct-lithium-extraction (DLE) technologies, the brine concentration economic feasibility for production is reduced to a cutoff benchmark of 50 ppm. However, ongoing developments in DLE technologies envision a feasible, efficient, and highly selective recovery of lithium from brines with low concentrations, even sea water. Manganese ion-sieve powder is a DLE technology that has gathered growing interest. However, one of the main challenges of its application in continuous industrial processes consists of operational challenges that its original powder form can cause. Therefore, forming is necessary if ion-sieve adsorbents are to have an industrial application. This paper has reported and discussed the experimental results of forming the adsorbent powders into different ion-exchange membranes (foam, flat sheet, and granular spherical beads) and their application for lithium extraction from simulated North Sea brine. The complete paper details the description and application of experimental equipment and processes.