Lithium and geothermal group Vulcan Energy Resources started production on Thursday of lithium hydroxide at its demonstration plant in Frankfurt, Germany. The company is targeting carbon-neutral commercial production for 2027, two years after originally planned.
Vulcan began production of lithium chloride at its pilot extraction plant on 8 April, and on Thursday night began production of lithium hydroxide at its pilot processing plant, using lithium chloride as feedstock material.
The plant will produce lithium hydroxide at a rate of 55 t/yr, sufficient to pass at least three of four required stages of regulation before it builds its commercial processing plant, for which the company is also awaiting further investment.
Since signing a number of binding offtake agreements in 2021 — ranging between five and ten-year terms — Vulcan has twice delayed its target for first commercial production. The company will now supply lithium hydroxide from 2027 to its partners — battery maker LG Energy Solutions, battery chemical maker Umicore, and carmakers Stellantis and Renault, for Phase 1 production, and Volkswagen for Phase 2 production.
The company plans to deliver 24,000 t/yr of lithium carbonate equivalent as part of Phase 1 production — sufficient for around 480,000 electric vehicles (EVs) each year, assuming an average EV battery capacity of 50kWh. And Vulcan plans to create at least 1,300 direct and 1,500 indirect jobs upon reaching Phase 1 capacity.
The company has not yet carried out a definitive feasibility study for Phase 2 production.
Since April, Vulcan's extraction plant has reached efficiencies up to 95pc, chief executive Cris Moreno said today, using direct lithium extraction technology. Direct lithium extraction typically increases lithium recovery rates up to 70-90pc, from the 40-60pc that traditional production yields.
"We are using the heat of our geothermal brine [in the upper Rhine valley, Germany] to drive that extraction process … it allows us to provide affordable baseload heat and power," Moreno said.
"In addition, our integrated upstream and downstream plants will exclude fossil-fuels in both the extraction and the processing of lithium, meaning the process has the lowest-carbon footprint of any lithium production globally, something again that differentiates us from our peers."
