Vulcan Energy aims to extract lithium from geothermal brine to establish a local, sustainable lithium source in Europe. Holding the largest combined geothermal and lithium resource on the continent, the company’s license areas are concentrated in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany. In February 2023, Vulcan announced results from a definitive feasibility study for the first phase of its lithium project. The company plans to initially produce 24,000 tonnes of lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) per year, derived from lithium chloride through a multi-stage process.
To refine processes for future commercial plants, Vulcan has established two test facilities in Germany. In April, the company filtered the first lithium chloride from geothermal brine at the Lithium Extraction Optimization Plant (LEOP) in Landau. In November, this intermediate product was further processed into battery-grade lithium hydroxide at the Central Lithium Electrolysis Optimization Plant (CLEOP) located in Industriepark Höchst.
“The result: a fully integrated supply chain from the raw material to the final product. This is not only an important milestone for Europe’s independence from critical raw materials, but also for the transition to green mobility,” says Vulcan Energy in its German press release. The LEOP and CLEOP facilities are primarily used for product quality tests and are scaled at 1:50 compared to the planned commercial plants. The future commercial Central Lithium Plant (CLP) will also be established at Industriepark Höchst.
The lithium hydroxide produced at CLEOP will be made available to Vulcan Energy’s partners—Stellantis, Renault, LG, and Umicore—for product validation in the project’s first phase.
Vulcan emphasizes that it avoids using fossil fuels in lithium extraction and processing. The LEOP utilizes renewable heat for the adsorption process (A-DLE), while green electricity powers the electrolysis process at CLEOP. By employing this method and maintaining short supply routes to European automotive and battery industries, Vulcan aims to achieve a low carbon footprint and establish one of the most cost-effective lithium supply chains globally.
Cris Moreno, Managing Director and CEO of Vulcan, stated, “Today marks a significant step forward in Vulcan’s aim to establish a domestic supply chain that provides the European automotive industry with green lithium for the production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries. This is a world-class facility which is already producing the first sustainable lithium hydroxide from raw material to end product, which is important for Europe’s independence from raw materials and for the transition to zero emission mobility.”
Source: Vulcan Energy, Electrive
