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Development trends of lithium carbonate, a material for lithium batteries

2016-08-30View Original

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The development direction of lithium carbonate in the field of new energy. The method for producing lithium carbonate involves high-temperature sintering of spodumene and limestone to produce lithium aluminate, which is then leached to obtain a lithium hydroxide solution; this solution is reacted with sodium carbonate to yield lithium carbonate. It can also be produced by using the lithium-containing solution obtained after extracting magnesium chloride from brine, removing calcium and magnesium ions with soda ash, acidifying it with hydrochloric acid, and then reacting it with soda ash. Regarding the use of salt lakes in the extraction of lithium carbonate, 15 years ago, both domestically and internationally, it was mainly used to produce various lithium compounds, metallic lithium, and its isotopes. It is also used to prepare catalysts for chemical reactions. It is also used in the semiconductor, ceramic, television, pharmaceutical, and nuclear industries. Used as an analytical reagent in analytical chemistry. It serves as a primary material in lithium-ion batteries. It is used as a setting accelerator in cement admixtures. But 15 years later, due to the massive development of the domestic electric vehicle industry and various policy subsidies, the price of lithium carbonate soared, rising from over 20,000 yuan per ton to nearly 200,000 yuan per ton. With the increase in production capacity and **regulatory measures, lithium carbonate is now starting to decline slowly. Vast market: In recent years, the output value of China’s lithium battery industry has grown from several hundred billion yuan to over a trillion yuan. Lithium carbonate is an important source for producing various high-end lithium products. Through processes such as dissolution and impurity removal, lithium carbonate can be converted into lithium fluoride, medical-grade lithium carbonate, and battery-grade lithium carbonate. Lithium fluoride is used in industries such as ceramics and chemicals, medical-grade lithium carbonate is used in pharmaceuticals, while battery-grade lithium carbonate is used in the production of lithium batteries. This is precisely the battery materials needed for the development of new energy vehicles in the country. Although sales in the downstream new energy vehicle market have declined slightly compared to 2015, the market is huge and full of great business opportunities. Data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in the first seven months of 2016, China produced 215,000 new energy vehicles and sold 207,000 of them, representing year-on-year increases of 119.8% and 122.8% respectively. Among them, the production and sales of pure electric vehicles reached 162,000 units and 153,000 units respectively, representing increases of 156.4% and 160.9% compared with the same period last year ; The production and sales of plug-in hybrid vehicles increased by 53.7% and 57.6% respectively compared with the same period last year. Although the sales of new energy vehicles continue to grow rapidly, the growth rate has declined significantly compared to last year. Data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that in 2015, the production of new energy vehicles reached 340,471 units, while sales amounted to 331,092 units, representing increases of 3.3 times and 3.4 times respectively on a year-on-year basis. Among them, the production and sales volumes of pure electric vehicles were 254,633 units and 24,782 units respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 4.2 times and 4.5 times respectively ; The production and sales volumes of plug-in hybrid vehicles reached 85,838 units and 83,610 units respectively, representing year-on-year increases of 1.9 times and 1.8 times respectively. Such a large market naturally creates tremendous business opportunities in the lithium carbonate sector, but it also imposes significant pressure. Compared to the huge market, China’s processing capacity for lithium carbonate is relatively weak. Processing capacity that needs to be enhanced: Since the main raw material for producing lithium carbonate is brine from salt lakes (the ore-based method has very limited global production capacity due to high costs), companies that aim to produce lithium carbonate on a large scale must have the rights to exploit salt lakes that contain abundant lithium resources. This creates significant resource barriers in this industry ; On the other hand, since the vast majority of salt lake resources worldwide are of the high-magnesium, low-lithium type, the technological processes required to purify and isolate lithium carbonate from such salts are very complex. Previously, these technologies were held only by a few foreign companies, which created technical barriers in the lithium carbonate industry. As a result, a global oligopoly structure has emerged in the lithium carbonate industry. Currently, the global lithium carbonate market is highly concentrated. Before the commissioning of several large-scale projects in China, the world’s main production capacity was in the hands of SQM, FMC, and Chemetall ; Data shows that although there are certain resource and technical barriers associated with lithium carbonate products, China still has a considerable number of salt lakes that are viable for exploitation. In terms of resources, over 70% of the world’s lithium reserves are found in salt lake brines in South America and China, while 71% of China’s lithium resources are located in the salt lakes of Qinghai and Tibet. However, the salt lakes currently in operation include Chaharhan Salt Lake owned by Salt Lake Co., Dongtaijiner Salt Lake operated by Western Mining, and Xitaijiner Salt Lake controlled by CITIC Guoan. Due to factors such as high altitude, poor industrial infrastructure, insufficient power supply, unfavorable climate conditions, and difficulties in transportation, large-scale mining has not yet been possible in these areas; as a result, most of the brine raw materials used in China are still imported from South America. Regarding raw materials, looking at lithium ore again, the more well-known deposits in China are those in Aba Prefecture and Meilika in Sichuan Province, and mining them is not easy either. Jiangte Electric possesses substantial lithium resources, but they are mainly in the form of lithium mica ore, and its grade is not high. It’s similar elsewhere. Looking ahead, apart from CITIC Guoan and Tibet Mining, Salt Lake Group also faces the need for breakthroughs; the barriers in this industry are gradually diminishing. The high gross margins currently present in this sector will surely attract more investment. Previously, due to the shortage of lithium carbonate and lithium ore, its price rose sharply. Downstream manufacturers stocked up in advance to ensure a supply of raw materials and control production costs. As the price of lithium carbonate stabilizes, downstream manufacturers have recently begun to use up their inventory, resulting in a slight decline in demand for the time being. Furthermore, in the second half of the year, the supply of lithium ore will gradually ease; the control exerted by the existing key suppliers of lithium ore will weaken, leading to a decline in lithium salt prices. Last week (August 15–19), the prices of industrial-grade lithium carbonate and battery-grade lithium carbonate dropped by 5,000 yuan/ton and 7,000 yuan/ton respectively, with transaction prices at 119,000 yuan/ton and 138,000 yuan/ton respectively. The lithium carbonate market has started to cool down recently, with prices falling for three consecutive weeks. The main reason is the slowdown in growth of the downstream new energy vehicle market. At the same time, the global supply of lithium carbonate is increasing rapidly, putting pressure on its prices. As the price of lithium carbonate declines, its supply is also increasing further, which is expected to put additional pressure on its price in the future. For example, FMC, one of the three major international companies in this field, recently announced that it will increase its lithium hydroxide production capacity by 20,000 tons in three phases; once the expansion is complete, the production capacity for lithium hydroxide will reach 30,000 tons. Phase 1 is expected to be completed and put into operation by mid-2017, with the entire expansion project planned to be finished by the end of 2019. In terms of the domestic market, the construction of Qinghai Hengxin Rong’s lithium carbonate production line is progressing smoothly according to plan, with efforts being made to complete it as soon as possible. Hengxin Rongli’s project to produce 18,000 tons of lithium carbonate per year received approval for its environmental impact assessment last year, passing the review by the provincial environmental protection department. It is expected that from 2016 to 2017, there will continue to be a demand surplus for lithium salts, with a supply gap of around 4,000 tons or less. After 2018, lithium salts returned to a situation of supply exceeding demand. Our company specializes in the production of lithium carbonate, as well as packaging machines for positive and negative electrode materials. We utilize advanced vacuum degassing technology to compact the materials, thereby increasing the packing density of the bags. No dust, high-precision packaging within 20g, 60–80 packs/hour. Feel free to ask for details.

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