2023-09-17 14:21:00
The geothermal company Hita has discovered lithium in the hot water it pumps in Campine, the newspaper L’Echo reported on Saturday. Umicore sees interest in this project, which could generate up to 150 million euros per year.
“We have discovered that the Antwerp and Limburg Kempen regions contain highly sought-after lithium deep underground.“, announces Hita CEO Geert De Meyer.
Geothermal installations pump hot water from the earth’s layers at a depth of more than 1,000 meters and transmit it to a local network of insulated pipes for heating and domestic hot water in buildings. “The phenomenon has been known for a long time in Germany and France, but this is the first time in Belgium“, underlines Mr. De Meyer.
Lithium is a metal which, along with nickel, manganese and cobalt, is essential for the production of batteries for electric cars or smartphones.
Two deep geothermal installations are active in Flanders: at Janssen Pharma in Beerse and at Vito in Mol.
“The first results obtained show 100 mg of lithium per liter of water. This is very correct,” says Bart Michielsen, researcher at Vito. “This means that a geothermal power plant in Flanders can produce 500 tonnes of lithium hydroxide every year. If we multiply this figure by the 30 power plants that will be built by 2050, we obtain 15,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide. With the first 10 plants which will be ready by 2030, that is already 5,000 tonnes.“
According to rough estimates, this represents enough lithium for the batteries of 125,000 electric cars per year, specifies L’Echo.
This quantity meets the requirements set by Umicore to be considered as a potential supplier.
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