Geothermal lithium in the spotlight at the GW-SDG Conference 2022

With the theme "Geothermal lithium: dream or reality?", the international event "Groundwater, Key to the Sustainable Development Goals" is dedicated to various aspects of the extraction of lithium from deep geothermal fluids in Europe.

Due to political measures to decarbonize the global transport sector, the demand for lithium-ion-batteries to power electric vehicles is expected to increase significantly in the upcoming years. In Europe, deep geothermal energy has been contributing to the provision of decarbonized heating and cooling for industry and housing for quite some time. The geothermal fluids used in this process are generally highly mineralized and have a significant amount of dissolved lithium, with concentrations ranging from 100 to 480 mg/L.

Within the Lithium Forum of the GW-SDG Conference, a number of scientific, technical, socio-economic and environmental challenges in climate-neutral lithium extraction from natural geothermal deposits will be discussed. Thereby, the focus will be on issues that are to be faced in the future during the transition from R&D pilot projects to industrial scale, such as the implementation of processes for direct lithium extraction, as well as the sustainable management of lithium resources.

This year's GW-SDG conference will be held in Paris from May 18-20, 2022 and is organized by IAH-CFH, UNESCO-IHP and the French Water Partnership under the auspices of the French UNESCO National Commission with support from the Ministry of Environment, the Seine-Normandy Water Agency and Sorbonne University.

Further information can be found on the official website. For those interested, there will be the possibility to submit an abstract until February 20.