Petrolithium

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Petrolithium is lithium taken from petroleum brine—the salty water brought to the surface during oil and gas production. Oil companies treat this brine as waste and usually reinject it underground or dispose of it. A portion is reused for drilling fluids, irrigation, or dust and ice control. Brines also contain minerals such as lithium, silicon, magnesium and potassium.

Petrolithium uses a nanofiltration process to pull lithium out quickly. Lithium chloride is separated from the oilfield wastewater in hours, instead of the months or years needed by traditional methods like solar evaporation or hard-rock mining. Several companies are pursuing brine lithium extraction: Simbol Materials (2012) worked on lithium from geothermal brine; Posco (2013) developed a method for continental brine; MGX Minerals (2017) is developing petroleum brine lithium extraction and building a pilot plant that would process about 300 barrels per day.