Day 2: Lithium – extraction, Applications, sustainability

The partner country of the 2022 conference was the Republic of Korea, whose perspective was the focus of the second day of the conference. In the first session on the use of lithium, Prof. Dr. Seokgwang Doo from the Korea Institute of Energy Technology (KENTECH) provided deep insights into Korea’s battery strategy. The conclusion for the next 10 to 15 years is that lithium will remain central to all batteries, but the complementary other elements may change. Other lithium manufacturers have the same take on these things. However, the WTO cannot guarantee market regulation if threats to the global lithium market are to be expected.

In the second session on lithium deposits, the Korean company POSCO explained the Korean lithium strategy. It was impressive to learn that the decision to enter the lithium industry was made back in 2010. The vision for 2030 is to build 300 kT LCE, i.e., 15 lithium hydroxide converters. That is roughly the number of converters needed in Europe. As the Korean economic attaché Sangmin Lee had stated in his welcome address the day before, the world is facing the challenges of the new multipolar order and should work more closely together. Other presentations and discussions in this session were dedicated to unconventional lithium sources such as geothermal lithium or petrololithium, fingerprinting and electrochemical lithium-ion extraction and extraction opportunities in the Tanzania region.

In the third session, knowledge about ESG was deepened – an important topic for standardization according to ISO/TC 333. The head of the working group at ISO for the topic of sustainability, Dr. Anne Wendt, was present digitally. A proposal for embedding the ESG criteria in the general company rating was presented by Prof. Dr. Werner Gleißner (FutureValue Group AG) and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Blum (ITEL).

In the fourth session, various lithium extraction technologies were presented. Prof. Dr. Bernd Friedrich from RWTH Aachen University and Prof. Dr. Bengi Yagmurlu from TU Clausthal presented the current state of research on new lithium recovery technologies from battery scrap. GEA Messo GmbH presented the technology of the first German lithium converter in Guben from spodumen, and Dr. Claudia Pudack (KBR Sustainable Technology Solutions) presented the extraction technology from brines. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Voigt (TU Bergakademie Freiberg) presented the nitrate process patented by Rock Tech Lithium Inc., and Dr. Victoriia Raks from K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies stated that lithium analysis must be an important part of research.

Pöllmann Prize and partners 2023 

As part of the LithiumDays 2022, the Herbert Pöllmann Prize for outstanding doctoral and habilitation theses in the field of resource and material economics was awarded for the first time on December 6th. The first prizewinner was Prof. Dr. Daniel Vollprecht from the University of Augsburg, who researches storage minerals.

A delegation from Uzbekistan was then welcomed as a partner of LithiumDays 2023. Uzbekistan has not yet started mining lithium and is looking for partners.

Day 3: Carbon neutrality and circular economy

On the following Wednesday, the fifth specialist session was dedicated to the path to CO₂-neutral production. Four contributions showed progress in this direction. Prof. Dr. Andreas Loeschel (Ruhr University Bochum) presented the latest IPCC report and in particular the transformation strategies. Positive risks (“upward risks”) through innovation were not included in this report, which must be assessed as a significant omission. The roadmap to a hydrogen infrastructure was then presented by HYPOS Hydrogen Power Storage & Solutions, the German Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association (DWV) and GP Joule GmbH.

The final sixth session rounded off the topic with lectures on the circular economy, lithium recycling and by-products. Nicolas Ballester from the Federal Association of German Waste Management, Water Management and Circular Economy (BDE) presented the current state of the art in circular economy. The Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) presented the necessary steps for the use of by-products in the construction industry and thus addressed the question of how quickly all permits for the use of residues in by-products can be granted. Dr Andreas Ehrenberg from the FEhS – Institute for Building Materials Research discussed the slag from the steel industry, and Dr. Tobias Elwert from BASF and Dr. Nils Wieczorek from the GRS Batteries Foundation, the perspectives of their companies for battery recycling.

Thanks 

We would like to invite all of our participants to join us again next year. The LithiumDays 2023 will take place from December 4th to 6th, 2023 together with our partner country Uzbekistan in Halle. Thanks for the conference go to our sponsors Rock Tech Lithium, GP Papenburg AG, Knauf Gips KG, Basalt-Actien-Gesellschaft, Schwenk Zement GmbH & Co. KG, GEA and KBR. We would also like to thank the team at the H+ Hotel, Stadtmarketing Halle (Saale) GmbH, the Xscreen technology team, the program committee, all speakers and the ITEL team for the successful implementation of the conference, especially Yvonne Zilke (organizational management) and Dr. Maria Gaudig (head of the program committee).