Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) had previously announced that it would buy the remaining 8.58 per cent of Litio for $13.1782 million, thereby taking full and indirect control of Litio and its Mariana Lithium Salt Lake.
What is noteworthy is that the announcement shows that Mariana has planned a production capacity of 20, 000 tons of lithium chloride per year. Unlike lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide, lithium chloride is mainly used to make metal lithium, while the latter is mainly used in lithium battery anode materials on the new energy track.
The company plans to use this part of lithium chloride to produce metal lithium, which may be mainly used in semi-solid and solid-state batteries in the future, a company source told the Financial Associated Press.
The 2020 report shows that the company's existing metal lithium production capacity is 1600 tons / year, and the capacity utilization rate is 98.58%. In April this year, the company announced plans for the construction of 7000 tons of lithium metal production capacity. After the Mariana project is put into production, the corresponding capacity of lithium chloride may reach 20, 000 tons.
The relevant people said that after processing, 20, 000 tons of lithium chloride corresponding to metal lithium production capacity may be about 4000 tons. At present, lithium metal products are mainly used in medicine, aviation and other fields, but the company's move is more focused on the application of solid-state batteries in the future.
In fact, solid-state batteries are another hot tuyere on the lithium battery track. Toyota, Panasonic, LG and BMW are all working on solid-state batteries. In April, BMW said it would develop solid-state battery technology for passenger cars by 2030.
But cold thinking is also needed under the hot wind. On the one hand, solid-state battery is still in the stage of research and development, and it will take time for industrial application; on the other hand, with the update and iteration of technology, metal lithium may not be the only choice of anode material for solid-state battery.
Huaan Securities Metal New Materials researcher said that solid-state batteries are still facing problems such as negative electrodes and technological breakthroughs in electrolyte materials. If lithium metal is used as anode material for solid-state battery, it will face considerable cost pressure.
In addition, some data show that all-solid-state batteries with high energy density, which rely on metal lithium as negative electrode, will be limited by battery charging rate and charging temperature.
At present, there are also a number of teams working on magnesium, silicon and other metal solid-state batteries. On September 24th, 2021, the pure silicon all-solid-state battery technology led by the University of California and participated in the research by LG New Energy was published. The data show that this technology will overcome the limitations of the above-mentioned metal lithium battery.
