2021 and beyond, page-2311

Thank you sowens, it was a very good article, I definitely suggest other people to read it as well.

Some points I would like to cite from the article:

"After detailed discussions with some of the most experienced salar hydrogeologists, we believe spent brine re-injection represents a major opportunity to optimize brinefield management and improve project economics.

Below are some ideas for how spent brine could be considered an opportunity for salar DLE projects:

1. Spent brine can be re-injected at the periphery of salars, substituting the natural infiltration of lower grade brines or freshwater into the salar aquifer as lithium brine is removed. This could act like a “brine barrier”, where the spent brine acts as a wedge between the fresh brine of the producing aquifers and fluid from undesirable off-salar aquifers with different density and geochemistry.

2. By re-injecting spent brine, aquifer pressure could be maintained, preventing the voidage replacement problem, maintaining high aquifer performance, and preventing the “salar sinking syndrome”.

3. The higher pressure at the periphery of the salar could enhance brine production by driving fresh brine towards the production wells. Since water is incompressible, it may be possible to apply this pressure far away from production wells where dilution of the fresh brine is minimized. On top of the process benefits of DLE including higher lithium recovery, no weather dependence, and faster commissioning, this can improve project economics by achieving positive and larger cash flow from lithium product sales sooner."