Also called: Geothermal Geochemist, Brine Chemist
Tests the hot, salty underground water that geothermal power plants pump up, to stop scale from clogging pipes and to find valuable minerals like lithium.
You take a sample of scalding brine from a wellhead at a plant near California's Salton Sea. In the lab you measure its silica, salts and lithium, then adjust the chemicals added to keep pipes from crusting shut. You also test a pilot unit that pulls lithium from the brine.
Estimated from geothermal operator and lab postings.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in chemistry or geochemistry; many have a master's.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Chemistry, Geochemistry, Geology, Chemical Engineering.
Growing faster than average. New geothermal drilling and lithium-from-brine projects are adding jobs.
Low risk in 5 years, medium in 10. AI helps model scale and corrosion, but field sampling and plant chemistry decisions stay hands-on.
Classes: AP Chemistry, Earth science, Algebra 2.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-2031.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.