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Among the many elements involved In converting chemical energy Into electricity, lithium is currently king. This article looks at the lithium supply picture and the implications of supply and demand on lithium-ion battery technologies and markets.
Although many elements can be used in batteries to store and convert chemical energy into electrical energy, the lithium-ion system dominates today. Various materials have been used or experimented with in lithium-ion battery chemistries, including lithium metal, graphite, aluminum, silicon, lithium titanium oxide (Li4Ti5Op), and titanium dioxide (TiO.,) for the anode; and titanium sulfide (TiS,), iron phosphate (FeP04), lithium manganese oxide (LiMn04), lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO,), lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO,), and lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide Li(NiMnCo)Oi for the cathode. Of these, three elements - carbon (in the form of graphite), cobalt, and lithium - have attracted the most attention due to supply concerns based on geological availabilities, geopolitics, and/or market limitations. The other elements have not generated similar interest because the volumes that might be needed for batteries are small relative to availability (Table 1).
Lithium has been the subject of the most discussion, because it is the key ingredient in the lithium-based advanced-battery chemistries, and questions have arisen about supply constraints and the adequacy of lithium resources. Thus, lithium is considered in some detail here so the reader may appreciate why resource adequacy is much less a concern today than previously.
This article explores where lithium is found and in what forms, how much is available, how it is recovered and converted to a form that can be used in batteries, relative operating costs of recovering lithium from different sources - and what all of this means for Li-ion battery makers and users. It also briefly discusses the recovery of carbon and cobalt.
Graphite
The layered crystal structure of graphite provides directional conductivity channels through which lithium ions flow. This makes it an ideal anode material.
Even though carbon is one of the most common elements in nature, it is the form of carbon used for battery applications - primarily natural flake graphite - that has generated supply concern and exploration activity. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimates world reserves of all forms of graphite to be 77 million m.t., including the morecommon, lower-quality amorphous graphite...