SALEM, Ohio — Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh recently found a large swath of lithium stored in unconventional oil and gas wastewater from Marcellus Shale rock formations that could be used to create clean energy technologies.
Lithium is a lightweight metal commonly used in rechargeable batteries to power electric vehicles and clean energy grids like solar and wind power.
The study suggests that 40% of the lithium used in the United States could be found in wastewater from the unconventional Marcellus Shale oil and gas development in Pennsylvania. Currently, this wastewater — which often contains harmful chemicals — is being injected back into the earth via injection wells.
Justin Mackey, a researcher at the National Energy Technology Laboratory and Ph.D. student at the University of Pittsburgh, says extracting lithium could generate value from this wastewater.
“If you can make domestic batteries from this water that is otherwise considered a toxic waste stream, then, I think it is a win on all fronts,” Mackey said.
The study’s journey
Mackey stumbled onto the Marcellus Shale’s lithium potential in 2017 when he was tasked with collecting water from unconventional well pads to send off for chemical analysis.
During this job, Mackey realized the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection was storing a wealth of data that was not available to the public. So, he started filing information requests with the DEP.
Initially, he and others at the NETL were looking at the data to determine well integrity for oil and gas operations. What was most interesting to Mackey, however, was the loads of lithium concentrations stored in Marcellus Shale wastewater that oil and gas producers were reporting.
Mackey’s statistics suggest lithium stored in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania could supply the U.S. with 3,000 metric tons a year, making his findings groundbreaking as the demand for clean energy technologies in the U.S. increases and the need for domestic production of lithium heightens.
High demand
Lithium has been considered a critical mineral since 2018 by the U.S. Department of Interior. This means that it is a non-fuel mineral essential to the country’s economy and national security, specifically, the country’s goal of a clean energy transition.
Lithium-ion batteries power electric vehicles, cellphones, laptops and clean energy technologies like solar panels.
Less than 1% of lithium is harvested from the U.S., currently, with only one active lithium mine in Nevada. The U.S. obtains its lithium from countries like Australia, Chile, Argentina and China, which are the world’s largest producers of lithium.
However, U.S. demand for lithium is expected to increase to 340,000 metric tons annually by 2032, according to estimates by the International Council on Clean Energy. The Biden administration also wants 50% of cars in the U.S. to be electric by 2030, and all lithium to be produced domestically by then.
“Demand for lithium, in particular, could be up to 500 times the current demand,” Mackey said. “If everything is going to be electrified, we’re gonna need a lot of batteries and we need these batteries to be affordable. The Marcellus as a lithium resource could play a role in … finding these resources that we need.”
Since 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has allocated more than $15 million in funding for the research and development of lithium sourced from brine waste.
An untapped resource
Researchers in Mackey’s study only looked at lithium storage exclusively in the Marcellus within southwestern and northeastern Pennsylvania, but Marcellus rock formations in Ohio and West Virginia could make this potential domestic lithium production even greater.
Wastewater from other rock formations across the country also contains lithium. A recent analysis by the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy found that California’s Salton Sea region could contain enough lithium to support 375 million batteries for electric vehicles. The Smackover rock formation in southern Arkansas also contains high concentrations of lithium in its brine waste.
Mackey says the next steps for domestic lithium production are further developing technologies to extract this lithium while also understanding the environmental impact this process could have.
One company in the Marcellus region has already begun extracting lithium from wastewater. In 2023, Eureka Resources, a wastewater treatment company based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, announced they were able to extract 97% of lithium carbonate from brine waste, with a 90% recovery rate.
However, lithium extraction can be a dangerous process because it is a toxic metal. If leaked, it can pollute water sources and the air and harm human health.
Waste from the Marcellus in particular contains toxic heavy metals and can be highly radioactive. Because of this, Mackey emphasized the importance of further research.
“We need to develop the technologies to extract lithium tailored to the Marcellus so that we’re making sure that occupational and environmental safety is of concern and focused on,” Mackey said.
Although Mackey sees the Marcellus Shale as a way of establishing the U.S.’s domestic lithium production, he says extracting lithium from wastewater is not a climate solution.
“Still, it’s a waste product from fossil energy extraction. There’s a risk of greenwashing it, tying it as a solution,” Mackey said. “Right now this is a waste. We’re not making batteries out of it, we’re just recycling it and reinjecting it.”
(Liz Partsch can be reached at epartsch@farmanddairy.com or 330-337-3419.)
Interesting article. Looking for more updates on this topic of lithium in Marcellous ground areas of Northeast Ohio.