South Korean steelmaker POSCO will build lithium hydroxide extraction facility in Gwangyang, 300 km south of Seoul. The company also plans to invest in Argentina to further its electric vehicle battery ambitions.
POSCO said on Apr. 14 that it will start the construction of the plant within the first half of 2021 to produce lithium hydroxide, a base compound for anode materials used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.
Once completed by 2023, the plant will annually produce 43,000 tons of lithium hydroxide, enough to be used by 1 million vehicles.
Lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate are the two most common lithium compounds used as the chemical base for cathode materials, which assist in the flow of electricity within battery cells.
While the industry had preferred lithium carbonate over lithium hydroxide, POSCO explains that the demand for lithium hydroxide is increasing: as auto manufacturers are racing to increase the mileage range per charge, cathode materials with high nickel content above 80%, which use lithium hydroxide as a chemical base, are becoming more prevalent.
POSCO will supply its lithium hydroxide to battery material manufacturers such as its subsidiary POSCO Chemical Co. The plant will be using lithium ores from Australia in manufacturing the material.
Prior to its decision to build the large-scale lithium plant, POSCO has been developing a lithium extraction technology in partnership with the Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) since 2010 and operates a relevant test facility within its Gwangyang steel plant over the last two years.
POSCO will also begin construction of a plant near the Salar del Hombre Muerto salt lake in northern Argentina over the next few months, which is to offer an annual production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of lithium. The group also owns the mining rights in Argentina, and according to POSCO, the reserves in the plant should be sufficient for up to 370 million electric cars.