Vulcan in talks with producers to license lithium technology
Vulcan began producing lithium hydroxide earlier this month from its Rhine Valley operations using adsorption direct lithium extraction.
VSPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lithium Australia, announced that it successfully built and tested lithium-ferro-phosphate batteries using high-quality cathode material composed of lithium phosphate from spent lithium-ion batteries.
In a press release, the company said that its technology was used by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) to recover lithium phosphate with a purity of more than 99.9% from mixed metal dust from recycled lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).
Lithium Australia is in discussions with industry players in China to establish a supply chain for lithium phosphate cathode material produced from recycled LIBs
The recovered mineral was initially shipped to VSPC’s pilot plant in Brisbane. There, the company’s proprietary nanotechnology was used to
According to the firms involved in the project, using the new cathode material, VSPC created 2032 coin-cell LIBs and electrochemically tested them. The performance showed specific capacity 0.1C discharge >155 mAh/g and specific capacity 1C discharge >135mAh/g.
“The production of LIBs from recycled battery material represents a genuinely renewable pathway for the battery industry,” said Lithium Australia’s managing director, Adrian Griffin, in the media brief. “Recycling of this type meets the ethical, social and governance standards that the community expects. It also strengthens our capacity to deal with climate change by improving resource sustainability and reducing the environmental footprint of portable power.”
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Ganapathy Ramachandran
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