Controls on the concentration of lithium in oilfield brines

油田卤水中锂浓度的控制

• 批准号: 556943-2020
• 负责人: WilliamsJones, Anthony
• 金额: $ 1.73万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=720777
• 关键词: Controls; concentration; lithium; oilfield; brines

Concerns over global warming have led several countries to introduce legislation that limits the future use of internal combustion engines. As a result, electric vehicles are replacing fossil fuel-powered vehicles and there is a rapidly growing demand for lithium-ion batteries to provide the necessary energy storage. This will lead to a shortage of affordable lithium resources. Oilfield brines, which are by-products of petroleum production, may contain significant concentrations of lithium and thus have the potential to help alleviate this shortage. The proposed research will be conducted in partnership with Equinor Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of Equinor ASA of Norway. The project will investigate the origin of lithium in brines associated with black shales of the Bakken Formation, which extends from southern Saskatchewan and SW Manitoba into the USA. As the underlying evaporites (a common source of Li) contain very little lithium, and the shales are enriched in it, the latter are the likely source of lithium in the brines. The purpose of this research is therefore to develop a model that will predict the partitioning of lithium between black shales and oilfield brines, and identify criteria that can be used to determine whether a particular black shale succession is likely to yield Li-enriched brines. The research will be conducted by a team selected using EDI best-practices, and will involve determining the concentration of lithium and other elements in the brines and the organic and inorganic fractions of the shales. This will be complemented by a detailed study of the shale mineralogy and a lithium isotope study that will take advantage of the strong fractionation of 6Li and 7Li known to occur between organic and inorganic shale fractions. By showing how lithium concentrations in brines correlate with those of the organic and inorganic fractions, the research will lead to a predictive model for evaluating the lithium potential of brines associated with black shales. The research will help promote the exploration for lithium brine resources in Canada and assist Equinor with the evaluation of the lithium potential of brines in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Saskatchewan and those currently produced from its offshore operations in Newfoundland.

对全球变暖的担忧使几个国家引入了立法，以限制内燃烧引擎的未来使用。结果，电动汽车正在取代化石燃料动力的车辆，并且对锂离子电池的需求迅速增长，以提供必要的能源储能。这将导致负担得起的锂资源短缺。油田盐水是石油生产的副产品，可能含有浓度的锂浓度，因此有可能减轻这种短缺。拟议的研究将与挪威Equinor ASA的子公司Equinor Canada Ltd.合作进行。该项目将调查与Bakken组的黑色页岩相关的锂的起源，该盐是从萨斯喀彻温省南部和曼尼托巴省延伸到美国的。由于潜在的蒸发物（LI的常见来源）含有很少的锂，并且页岩富含它，因此后者可能是盐水中锂的来源。因此，这项研究的目的是开发一个模型，该模型将预测黑页岩和油田盐水之间的锂分配，并确定可用于确定特定黑色页岩演替是否可能产生富含液化的盐水的标准。这项研究将由使用EDI最佳实践选择的团队进行，并将涉及确定锂和其他元素的浓度以及页岩的有机和无机分数。对页岩矿物学和同位素研究的详细研究将补充，该研究将利用有机和无机页岩分数之间已知的6LI和7LI的强烈分馏。通过显示盐水中的锂浓度与有机和无机分数的锂浓度如何相关，该研究将导致一个预测模型，用于评估与黑色页岩相关的盐水潜力。这项研究将有助于促进加拿大锂盐水资源的探索，并协助Equinor评估北达科他州和萨斯喀彻温省的Bakken组中盐水潜力的评估，以及目前从其纽芬兰海上运营中生产的盐水。