BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN X-WR-CALNAME:Stanford Energy Student Lectures – California data centers a nd lithium extraction from brines X-WR-TIMEZONE:Pacific Time (US & Canada) BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260809T230031Z UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_53313337171295 DTSTART:20260707T220000Z DTEND:20260707T230000Z DESCRIPTION:Join us as grad student/postdoc speakers from various technical areas deliever short and accessible presentations about their innovative clean energy research. Learn more about cutting-edge science and the most recent breakthroughs in areas such as renewables\, energy conversion mater ials and devices\, catalysis\, and decarbonization from the researchers th emselves!\n\nRefreshments will be provided starting at 2:45pm. Share your feedback on the speakers for a chance to win a Coupa giftcard!\n\nSpeaker Topics:\n\nWill McNeil- Data Center Load Growth and Power System Costs in California\n\nAbstract:\n\nData centers and other large loads have the pot ential to reshape U.S. electricity demand growth\, generation investment n eeds\, and grid decarbonization pathways. In this study\, we develop a tec hno-economic and capacity expansion modeling framework in PyPSA-USA to qua ntify the grid impacts of data center load growth in California. We evalua te how proposed California policies and cost allocation frameworks influen ce electricity prices\, infrastructure investment needs\, emissions outcom es\, and grid reliability. We identify tradeoffs between reliability\, aff ordability\, and decarbonization and provide actionable information for po licymakers regarding data center policies in California.\n\nSpeaker bio:\n \nWilson (Will) McNeil is passionate about the clean energy transition and ensuring energy systems are reliable\, affordable\, and low-carbon. Will is a 2025 Stanford Energy Postdoctoral Fellow advised by Dr. Inês Azevedo and Dr. Steve Davis. Will earned his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engin eering from the University of California\, Berkeley under the mentorship o f Professor Robert Harley and Dr. Corinne Scown. His doctoral research foc used on the life-cycle economic\, climate\, and human health impacts of em erging technologies including heavy-duty vehicle electrification and post- combustion carbon capture and storage.\n\n \n\nYousif Alkhulaifi- A stirre d-tank flow-electrode reactor for direct lithium extraction from brines\n\ nAbstract:\n\nGlobal lithium demand has risen rapidly with widespread lith ium-ion battery deployment\, and this has intensified interest in selectiv e Li recovery from low-grade brines. These resources often contain <200 pp m Li and high concentrations of competing cations such as Na+\, K+\, and C a2+. To date\, flow-electrode concepts for direct lithium extraction (DLE) have largely relied on cell architectures that pump slurries through long \, thin millimeter-scale channels. These geometries increase surface-to-vo lume ratio and reduce ionic resistance\, but they are difficult to seal\, prone to clogging\, and difficult to scale. Here\, we introduce a stirred- tank flow-electrode architecture for DLE\, in which iron phosphate (FePO4) and carbon black particles are suspended in brine and vigorously mixed in a cathode tank. Stirring sustains particle motion and causes frequent col lisions of particles with a cathode collector and with each other. These c ollisions facilitate electron transfer to the FePO₄ particle phase and d rive selective Li intercalation. In lab-scale experiments\, the reactor ac hieves Li/Na intercalation selectivity up to 280 and current densities up to 1 mA cm⁻²\, with low impedance and high intercalation rates despite a small cathode area. We will present the reactor design and an experiment al study of this system\, including measurements of key performance metric s.\n\nSpeaker bio:\n\nYousif Alkhulaifi is a PhD candidate in Mechanical E ngineering at Stanford University\, advised by Prof. Juan G. Santiago. His research focuses on transport phenomena and electrochemical systems for s ustainable resource recovery\, with emphasis on flowable electrodes\, ion- selective intercalation\, and direct lithium extraction from brines. His c urrent work explores stirred-tank electrochemical reactors that use suspen ded battery materials to selectively recover lithium from low-grade\, high -salinity resources. More broadly\, Yousif is interested in technologies t hat connect fundamental fluid mechanics\, electrochemistry\, and energy ma terials to practical separation and manufacturing processes. Before Stanfo rd\, he trained as a mechanical engineer with interests spanning energy sy stems\, clean technologies\, and applied transport science. He is supporte d by King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals\, where he plans to cont inue work on electrochemical separations\, resource recovery\, and sustain able energy technologies. GEO:37.42816;-122.175935 LOCATION:Y2E2 Building\, 299 SUMMARY:Stanford Energy Student Lectures – California data centers and li thium extraction from brines URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.stanford.edu/event/stanford-energy-student-lec tures-sesl-week-3 CATEGORIES:Lecture/Presentation/Talk END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR