A leading chemical company in China is making progress on certain types of substance technologies for new electric vehicle batteries.
Today a press release from Lithium Boron Technology, sold over-the-counter as LBTI, notes that the company has achieved a benchmark for using lithium carbonate in a way that involves sustainable extraction.
“We use a proprietary sorbent processing technology that has revolutionized traditional methods of lithium extraction which we believe is one of the best available in the world,” said LBTI Chairman Jimin Zhang in a press statement. “The process enables us to efficiently extract lithium carbonate, in an environmentally friendly manner with a modularized, miniaturized and simplified process.”
Estimating production costs at approximately $3,125 (20,000 yuan)/ tonne, Zhang said the capability should enable LBTI to achieve higher profit margins than other producers.
“We are planning to build production capacity to an annual output of 20,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate over the next two years,” Zhang said. “According to Trading Economics, the price of Lithium Carbonate in China increased from 33,843 yuan per tonne to 194,000 yuan, approximately 570% increase because of the growing market demand and tight supply. We expect the trend to continue over the next five years.”
The industry has been looking for new more sustainable models for lithium ion battery design for a while.
“Batteries have generated the most excitement in the lithium space over the last few years, with interest spurred by Tesla’s (NASDAQ:TSLA) plans to develop lithium-ion battery gigafactories,” wrote Melissa Pistilli at Investing News last March. “However, there is more to the lithium market than Tesla, and the market for lithium is not all about batteries.”
This news shows how large sourcing companies could contribute to better battery design, less waste and more ecological rare earth materials harvesting for all of the vehicles, devices and other powered appliances that we use every day. Factor that into your energy and technology investment strategy.
