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Systems removes geothermal water's silica

Carol Bruton, shown checking instrumentation, is one of the co-developers of the technology that filters out silica from geothermal waters.

Carol Bruton, shown checking

instrumentation, is one of the

co-developers of the technology

that filters out silica from

geothermal waters.

A team of scientists at DOE's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has developed a technology that filters out silica from geothermal waters, allowing geothermal electrical plants to work more efficiently and to market a byproduct, silica. While the United States leads the world in geothermal electrical production, one problem in geothermal turbine facilities is that silica clogs the pipes, filters and heat exchangers. Still, the silica can be recovered and sold to manufacturers of products such as paint, paper, toothpaste, tires, dehumidifiers and even solar photovoltaic cells. Energy companies are normally focused on power generation and regard the geothermal brines as a troublesome waste product, but the LLNL technology can not only solve the silica clogging problem, it can help mine out silica and other valuable minerals such as lithium (used in electric car batteries), manganese, zinc and tungsten. The Livermore scientists conducted a field demonstration at Mammoth Pacific L.P.'s geothermal power facility near Mammoth Lakes, Calif. to show how the combination of their silica extraction process and reverse osmosis could improve plant efficiency and extract valuable metals.

[Steve Wampler 925.423.3107,
wampler1@llnl.gov]