Karlsruhe, January 13, 2025 – Vulcan Energy has produced the first lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) that meets the purity requirements for the use of the raw material in lithium-ion batteries at the Central Lithium Electrolysis Optimization Plant (CLEOP) in the industrial park in Frankfurt-Höchst. It is the first production of battery-grade LHM that takes place entirely in Europe, from the extraction of the raw material to processing into the end product. The precursor is extracted from the thermal water of the Upper Rhine Graben in Vulcan’s first optimization plant LEOP using direct lithium extraction by adsorption (A-DLE) and then processed into the end product LHM in Frankfurt-Höchst. The prerequisite for this is a high-purity lithium chloride concentrate, which the company has been extracting since last year in the optimization plant in Landau, Rhineland-Palatinate. The entire production process is sustainable and has the lowest CO2 footprint in the world. This enables both one of the most sustainable and one of the most cost-efficient lithium supply chains in the world.

The establishment of a domestic and sustainable supply chain for lithium in Europe is not only an important step towards strengthening Europe’s independence from raw materials, but also towards further advancing the green mobility transition. The production of Vulcan’s first battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate follows just a few weeks after the start of operations of the optimization plant in November 2024. The lithium product will now be used in ongoing qualification processes with Vulcan’s off-take partners from the European automotive and battery industry, including Stellantis, Renault, LG and Umicore.

At the same time, the company is pressing ahead with the construction of the facilities for the first phase of the project. In this first phase of the “Lionheart” project, Vulcan is aiming to produce around 24,000 tons of LHM per year, which is roughly enough to manufacture around 500,000 electric vehicles. Like the optimization plant, the commercial production facility planned for this will be built at Industriepark Höchst and is therefore located in close proximity to Vulcan’s customers.

Cris Moreno, Managing Director and CEO of Vulcan Energy, comments: “Congratulations to the entire Vulcan team on the first production of battery grade LHM at our optimization facility. This is an important milestone for Vulcan and the final step in realizing the first fully domestic and integrated supply chain in Europe producing battery grade LHM from local sources. I am very proud of the entire Vulcan operations team who have managed to produce battery grade LHM in a very short time since the plant started production in November. This underlines Vulcan’s position as a leading lithium and renewable energy project in Europe.”

Imagery credit: Uli Deck Artis_Photographie