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US 12,565,434 B2Granted
Prevention of silica fouling in geothermal brine
AssigneeInternational Battery Metals, Ltd.
InventorJohn L. Burba
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are systems and techniques for monitoring and controlling values of oxidation reduction potential (ORP) of brine provided to a separation system. Brine that includes valuable elements, such as lithium, may also include levels of silica and transition metals like iron that could react with oxygen to create insoluble compounds that could clog apparatus designed to remove lithium from brines. Systems and techniques of the present disclosure may control ORP values by adding measures of reducing agents to brine to prevent formation of the insoluble compounds, such as ferrosilicate that can be formed from an oxidation reaction of ferrous iron (Fe+2) and silicate. Techniques of the present disclosure may generate, train, and use computer models to control ORP values of brine.
Claims17
A method comprising:
- receiving sensor data associated with a brine stream from one or more sensors;
- identifying an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) value of the brine stream from the sensor data when the brine stream includes silica and one or more elements of a silica compound;
- identifying a measure of reducing agent to add to the brine stream according to an ORP control rule that specifies that the one or more elements of the silica compound should be maintained in an oxidation state such that formation of the silica compound is mitigated;
- controlling addition of the measure of the reducing agent to the brine stream to mitigate the formation of the silica compound based on the one or more elements being maintained in the oxidation state;
- removing a portion of a concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) of the brine stream via air flux;
- providing the brine stream to a separation system based on the ORP value of the brine stream being controlled when the measure of the reducing agent is added to the brine stream according to the ORP control rule;
- identifying the concentration of H2S of the brine stream;
- identifying the portion of the H2S of the concentration of H2S to remove from the brine stream;
- removing the portion of the H2S from the brine stream based on operation of an H2S mitigation system;
- and
- injecting the portion of the H2S into a lithium-depleted brine,
- wherein the reducing agent comprises sodium sulfite (Na2SO3).
9 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon instructions executable by one or more processors to:
- access sensor data received from one or more sensors disposed in a brine stream;
- identify an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) value from the sensor data when the brine stream includes silica and one or more elements of a silica compound;
- identify a measure of reducing agent to add to the brine stream according to an ORP control rule that specifies that the one or more elements of the silica compound should be maintained in an oxidation state such that formation of the silica compound is mitigated;
- control addition of the measure of the reducing agent to the brine stream to mitigate the formation of the silica compound based on the one or more elements being maintained in the oxidation state;
- remove a portion of a concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) of the brine stream via air flux;
- provide the brine stream to a separation system based on the ORP value of the brine stream being controlled when the measure of the reducing agent is added to the brine stream according to the ORP control rule;
- identify the concentration of H2S of the brine stream;
- identify the portion of the H2S of the concentration of H2S to remove from the brine stream;
- remove the portion of the H2S from the brine stream based on operation of an H2S mitigation system;
- and
- inject the portion of the H2S into a lithium-depleted brine,
- wherein the reducing agent comprises sodium sulfite (Na2SO3).
9 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a valve;
- one or more sensors disposed along a brine stream;
- a memory;
- one or more processors that execute instructions out of the memory to:
- access sensor data associated with a brine stream received from the one or more sensors,
- identify an oxidation reduction potential (ORP) value from the sensor data when the brine stream includes silica and one or more elements of a silica compound,
- identify a measure of reducing agent to add to the brine stream according to an ORP control rule that specifies that the one or more elements of the silica compound should be maintained in an oxidation state such that formation of the silica compound is mitigated,
- remove a portion of a concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) of the brine stream via air flux, and
- control operation of the valve to add the measure of the reducing agent to the brine stream to mitigate the formation of the silica compound based on the one or more elements being maintained in the oxidation state, and allow the brine stream to be provided to a separation system based on the ORP value of the brine stream being controlled when the measure of the reducing agent is added to the brine stream according to the ORP control rule;
- identify the concentration of H2S of the brine stream;
- identify the portion of the H2S of the concentration of H2S to remove from the brine stream;
- remove the portion of the H2S from the brine stream based on operation of an H2S mitigation system;
- and
- inject the portion of the H2S into a lithium-depleted brine,
- wherein the reducing agent comprises sodium sulfite (Na2SO3).
12 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.