Silica Extraction at the Mammoth Lakes Geothermal Site
The purpose of this project is to develop a cost-effective method to extract marketable silica (SiO{sub 2}) from fluids at the Mammoth Lakes, California geothermal power plant. Marketable silica provides an additional revenue source for the geothermal power industry and therefore lowers the costs of geothermal power production. The use of this type of ''solution mining'' to extract resources from geothermal fluids eliminates the need for acquiring these resources through energy intensive and environmentally damaging mining technologies. We have demonstrated that both precipitated and colloidal silica can be produced from the geothermal fluids at Mammoth Lakes by first concentrating the silica to over 600 ppm using reverse osmosis (RO). The RO permeate can be used in evaporative cooling at the plant; the RO concentrate is used for silica and potentially other (Li, Cs, Rb) resource extraction. Preliminary results suggest that silica recovery at Mammoth Lakes could reduce the cost of geothermal electricity production by 1.0 cents/kWh.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 893986
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-PROC-224426; TRN: US200701%%84
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Presented at: Geothermal Resources Council 2006 Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States, Sep 10 - Sep 13, 2006
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Silica Scale Management: Lowering Operating Costs through Improved Scale Control, and Adding Value by Extracting Marketable By-Products
Additional studies of geothermal district heating for Mammoth Lakes Village, California. Final report, October 1977--March 1978