Lithium can be cut based on depth GeothermalTwo deep wells are dug in the soil at a depth of approximately 2 to 3 km. The surface has warm water in a certain setting. That hot water is pumped up and the heat is removed and that heat is placed in a kind of heating network. The cold water is then placed back on the floor.
“This heat can be used for heating, and if the temperature is high enough, you can make electricity with it,” he says. Kirt de MeyerCEO of HITA, the company that creates deep geothermal energy in “The World Today”.
Removal of lithium from water
But geothermal power plants can be used not only for standard technology, but also to mine lithium from the ground, an important ingredient in electric car batteries. There are various extraction techniques for distilling lithium from salt water (pumped water).
“Currently, 90 percent of the lithium we use comes from Chile,” says De Meyer. Electric cars are widely used and run on lithium batteries. “
So now it is being explored whether Europe needs proof of lithium because lithium is on the list of important materials. “Many research projects are underway in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Lithium has already been found in concentrations high enough to extract it.
1 million electric cars
Germany claims to be able to produce 1 million electric cars with lithium concentrations. According to De Meyer, it is not yet clear how much lithium is in our groundwater. “This is the first study we need to do: where exactly it is located, what the concentration is and what extraction techniques we can use. We are now doing this based on opinion polls conducted among operators.
Geothermal energy is also relatively new, but de Meyer certainly sees potential. “Currently there are two projects with geothermal power plants in Flanders: in Mole and Beers,” he says.
“The Flemish government will evaluate this and if the evaluation is positive, we can continue to develop. I can see geothermal plants starting by 2027-2029.”
Listen to HITA CEO Kirt de Meyer on Radio 1 Select
Source: vrtnws.be And the world today
