Vulcan Energy has received municipal approval to construct its commercial lithium extraction plant in the D12 industrial zone of Landau, Germany. This clearance complements earlier permits for an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) geothermal power station and a 110/20 kV substation on the same site. With these authorizations in place, Vulcan now holds all necessary permits to build its combined geothermal and lithium extraction plant (G-LEP) in Landau.
The facility’s first phase is expected to produce several thousand tonnes of lithium chloride annually. This intermediate product will be transported to a processing plant in the Frankfurt-Höchst industrial park, where it will be converted into battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM). In February 2023, Vulcan published a feasibility study targeting an annual output of 24,000 tonnes of LHM—enough to supply roughly 500,000 electric vehicles per year.
Vulcan’s resource license areas are located in Germany’s Upper Rhine Valley. The company operates pilot facilities at Landau and Höchst to refine its processes ahead of full-scale production. In April 2024, the Lithium Extraction Optimisation Plant (LEOP) in Landau filtered its first lithium chloride from geothermal brine. That material was processed in November 2024 at the Central Lithium Electrolysis Optimisation Plant (CLEOP) in Höchst into battery-grade hydroxide.
Construction of the full-scale commercial plant is slated to begin later this year, subject to finalizing project financing. The design uses intermediate heat exchangers at each well site to transfer heat from the geothermal brine to a closed industrial water loop. This loop will support regional district heating and electricity generation via the ORC systems. The cooled, lithium-rich brine will then flow to the extraction plant, and lithium-depleted brine will be reinjected into the reservoir.
Vulcan states that the extraction and processing cycle is carbon neutral over its lifetime and operates without burning fossil fuels. The total investment for the Landau extraction plant and the Höchst processing facility is estimated at €690 million. German federal and state governments are contributing €103.6 million under the EU’s Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework. The Landau project was also selected in March 2025 as a strategic initiative under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act.
To complete financing, Vulcan is leveraging offtake agreements with key customers. In May 2025, the company signed its fourth customer, agreeing to supply a Glencore subsidiary with 36,000–44,000 tonnes of LHM over eight years. Existing agreements with LG Energy Solution, Umicore and Stellantis have been amended: LG Energy Solution will receive 31,000 tonnes over six years, Umicore 23,000 tonnes over six years, and Stellantis 128,000 tonnes over ten years. These revised timelines indicate that commercial deliveries will begin later than initially planned for 2025.
Source: electrive
