LITHIUM

What is Lithium And Where Do I Use It?

Lithium (chemical symbol Li, atomic number 3, alkali metal group) is the lightest silver metal with a density of 0.53 g/cm³. It is very reactive and flammable and forms strong alloys with other metals. Lithium has excellent electrical conductivity, which makes it ideal for battery applications. It is also used in a variety of industry sectors such as manufacture of aircraft, glass ceramics, aluminium alloys, air treatment or pharmaceuticals (lithium salts have neurological and psychiatric medical properties).
Lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide are the principal lithium compound products for cathode material production used in non-rechargeable and rechargeable batteries. 65% of total lithium demand for batteries comes from portable electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, digital cameras etc.
Hydrometallurgical recycling methods of end-of-life Li-ion batteries enable recovery of lithium as a lithium carbonate precipitate.

Major world mines producers of lithium are Chile, Australia and Argentina.
Lithium is currently extracted in Portugal in the form of lepidolite from pegmatite.

Lithium prices increased since the beginning of 2015. It shows the growth in demand for Li-ion batteries, which is driven by the emerging technology of electric vehicles. However, a strong downward trend has been observed since mid-2018.
In July 2019, the costs for Lithium carbonate was €9,000 per tonne and for lithium hydroxide €11,000 per tonne.

The recycling process for lithium was not considered cost-effective, but it has started to increase thanks to regulatory instruments in the EU like Directive 2012/19/EU (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive) and Directive 2006/66/EC (Batteries Directive). The residual capacity of batteries can be used in other applications before the recycling process.
Raw materials like lithium can be affected by several environmental concerns. A country that supplies lithium for the EU-27, like Chile, has a very high level of risk and exposure for natural disasters, like a shortage of water resources for production.
In terms of supply chain risk, there is still a lack of European capacity to produce important processed materials for Li-ion batteries, but the supply of Lithium is not expected to be a problem for battery supply chains.