CuLi Well: Copper and lithium resources in German geothermal wells

In 2023, the EU Commission proposed two sets of actions to ensure (1) the EU's access to secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials (CRM) and (2) to boost renewable energies such as geothermal energy to meet EU's climate goals. The CRM Act categorises copper (Cu) and lithium (Li), among others, as strategic metals, as they are very important for the EU economy and the energy transition, but the EU is 100% dependent on other countries. Significant resources of these elements can be expected in certain deep geothermal fluids that can also be used for energy provision due to their elevated temperatures.

SynCom Project CuLiWell aims at gathering and evaluating the scientific, technological, and societal knowledge and knowledge gaps for the implementation of Cu and Li extraction from deep fluids of the North German Basin to identify pathways to demonstrators and market deployment. CuLiWell will (1) help to bring the consortium together and synthesize knowledge within the research program and relevant partners, (2) obtain visibility for the relevance and feasibility of the co-production of heat and lithium and/or copper and (3) allow the consortium to write a proposal for research funding to close the research gaps. For relevant political actors the project aims to quantify the raw material potential that lies dormant in geothermal fluids, to identify obstacles and to propose measures to pave the way towards implementation.

Participating Helmholtz Centres

GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Helmholtz for Environmental Research – UFZ, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Lead scientists

Dr. Simona Regenspurg (GFZ), Dr. Katrin Kieling (GFZ), Prof. Sarah Gleeson (GFZ), Prof. Hannes Hofmann (GFZ), Prof. Magdalena Scheck-Wenderoth (GFZ), Dr. Judith Bott (GFZ), Prof. Sylvia Sander (GEOMAR), Dr. Haibing Shao (UFZ), Prof. Olaf Kolditz (UFZ), Dr. Elisabeth Eiche (KIT)