The Marcellus Natural Gas Trend is a bed of shale extending across eastern United States. It reaches from Pennsylvania and West Virginia as far as eastern Ohio and western New York state. Fracking companies extract natural gas there using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. We have learned lithium extraction is possible from fracking wastewater.
Extracting Raw Lithium From Marcellus Shale
Organic materials released their natural gas a very long time ago, after they decayed and layers of sediment covered them. Ongoing deposition has trapped the gas deep below the surface of the earth since then.
This sedimentary rock holds most of the gas in the pore spaces of the shale. Although some gas is also present in vertical fractures, and joints that are pathways for the gas to flow. Frackers use these channels to release the natural gas.
They drill deep into the formation, and then pump chemically-treated water under high pressure to open pathways so the gas can flow. The waste water should ideally go to water treatment facilities for processing.
Processing Waste Water To Release Lithium
A report on the Futurity website says that fracking wastewater could contain up to 40% of U.S. requirements for lithium batteries. The website refers to a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection report to substantiate this claim.
We append a link to a University of Pittsburgh feature article below, that confirms this news is genuine. This document explains how it identified the richness of the lithium reserve from mandatory reports by frackers.
We’re of two minds whether fracking lithium extraction this way is correct from an environmental perspective. Justin Mackey is a researcher at National Energy Technology Laboratory, and has this to say:
“The next step toward making use of this lithium is to understand the environmental impact of extracting it, and to implement a pilot facility to develop extraction techniques.”
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