Battery Material

The German-Canadian company Rock Tech Lithium received an unexpected rejection from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy for its funding request on Monday. Originally, the company had hoped for support from the “Resilience and Sustainability of the Battery Cell Manufacturing Ecosystem” program, which was established under the EU Commission’s “Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework” (TCTF). Rock Tech Lithium extracts the raw material for electric car batteries from its mining project in Georgia Lake, Ontario, and plans to refine it into battery-ready products in Guben. From 2025 onwards, approximately 24,000 tons of lithium hydroxide are set to be produced annually in Guben, with around 50 percent of the materials sourced from recycled batteries by 2030. Mercedes-Benz has already secured an annual delivery of around 10,000 tons of lithium hydroxide from Guben. The decision from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy surprised the company. CEO Dirk Harbecke expressed optimism regarding regional support, particularly from the Brandenburg state government. Harbecke emphasized that they are in constructive dialogue with local authorities and are confident Brandenburg can mobilize sufficient funds to advance the project. The municipality of Guben also shows significant interest in realizing the battery project. Despite the setback in federal funding, Rock Tech Lithium remains confident that it can contribute to battery production and secure a significant position in Europe’s lithium supply in the long run. Souce: https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/industrie/rock-tech-muss-auf-foerderung-des-wirtschaftsministeriums-verzichten/100037005.html

The Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) has inaugurated a pilot plant for manufacturer-independent production of battery materials.

Factorial Inc. and LG Chem plan to jointly accelerate the development of materials for solid-state batteries. Future licensing of technologies and the supply of materials is considered possible.

The Australian material developer and producer Sicona Battery Technologies has announced its expansion into the US market by revealing the development of its first commercial production facility in the southeastern United States. The company plans to establish a production facility for silicon-carbon anode materials with a capacity of 6,700 tons annually. This positions Sicona as the largest manufacturer of silicon-carbon anode materials in the United States, surpassing the capacities of silicon-carbon facilities located in the northwest of the country, which are currently under construction or in development. By early 2030, Sicona aims to expand its US production to a total output of 26,500 tons per year, sufficient to support over 3.25 million electric vehicles. Sicona SiCxTM, the anode material produced by the company, has the potential to significantly improve the range and charging times of current electric vehicles. The silicon-carbon anode material (Sicona SiCxTM) is expected to increase energy density by over 20 percent compared to conventional lithium-ion battery cells made solely from graphite while reducing charging times by more than 40 percent. Moreover, Sicona’s technology does not rely on expensive, hazardous, bottlenecked, or emission-intensive supply chains like silane gas, providing Sicona’s customers with access to competitive prices and scalability without incurring significant costs or disruptive restructurings in their battery production facilities. Source: Link

Vulcan Energy Resources has successfully started the production of climate-neutral lithium chloride at its plant in Landau, Germany. This is the first time that lithium has been produced entirely in Europe. Vulcan’s combined geothermal and lithium resource is considered the largest in Europe and is mainly concentrated in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany. In February 2023, the company published the results of a feasibility study for the first phase of its lithium project. Vulcan plans to initially produce 24,000 tons of lithium hydroxide monohydrate per year, which will be achieved through a multi-stage process from lithium chloride. The LEOP (“Lithium Extraction Optimization Plant”) in Landau has been operational since August. It is used for product qualification, optimization, and training of the operating team for subsequent commercial production. The LEOP follows from Vulcan’s pilot plants in Insheim, which have extracted lithium chloride from Vulcan Energy’s producing drill sites over the past three years. The application of Direct Lithium Extraction by Adsorption has enabled efficiencies of up to 95 percent in the extraction of lithium from geothermal brine, the company reports. This result has already been achieved in Vulcan’s laboratories and pilot plants in Insheim. Source: https://v-er.eu/de/blog/2024/04/10/vulcans-lithiumextraktionsoptimierungsanlage-produziert-europas-erstes-gruenes-lithiumchlorid/

Graphite One has signed a lease agreement for the construction of a graphite electrode material production facility in Ohioʼs Voltage Valley. The lease agreement covers a term of 50 years and includes a purchase option.

Norwegian battery material manufacturer Vianode has received a grant of 30 million euros for the development of the anode material factory in Herøya, which is to be commissioned in 2024.

Lithium Americas has received a conditional commitment from the US Department of Energy for support of 2.26 billion US dollars. The loan is to be used for the construction of a lithium carbonate processing facility in Nevada.

CHASM and Ingevity are to collaborate on the manufacture of carbon nanotubes for the production of more powerful batteries on the North American and European markets.

LeydenJar has announced the construction of its first gigafactory in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Starting 2026, the facilty will produce silicon anode foils for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries.