Earlier this month POSCO opened its first lithium extraction plant, PosLX, in Korea that is expected to produce 2,500 tons of lithium carbonate per year – enough to produce about 70 million laptop batteries. While most lithium carbonate is extracted from salt deposits, POSCO was the first to develop a way to extract it from wasted batteries.

Lithium Demand to Continue Rising

Demand for lithium-ion batteries is expected to rise exponentially in the coming years. Tesla, Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, and other upstarts are all expecting increased demand as their electric vehicles begin rolling off production lines. Overall, worldwide demand for lithium carbonate is expected to rise from 66,000 tons in 2015 to over 180,000 tons by 2025.

“With the supply of electric cars and the development of smart grid technology, the market is expected to result in massive growth.” – Ohjoon Kwon, CEO

POSCO Reduced Extraction Time to 8 hours

Starting in 2010 when CEO Ohjoon Kwon was the Director at the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST), POSCO began working on developing a high-efficiency technique for extracting lithium from water.

In 2010, POSCO began development of a new chemically based lithium extraction technology that is able to reduce extraction time while also improving efficiency and reliance on overseas imports. The first pilot program began in 2013 and POSCO recently became the world’s first corporation to commercialize chemically based lithium extraction technology.

Lithium extraction traditionally takes anywhere from 12-18 months using a slow evaporation technique. However, POSCO’s new extraction method takes from 8 hours up to one month while also offering a purity rate of 99.9% and increasing the lithium recovery rate to over 80%.

Furthering POSCO’s work in lithium extraction, in 2011 POSCO partnered with RIST to further establish pilot production facilities with an annual capacity of two tons. Since then, POSCO has successfully completed more pilot production facilities overseas at Chile’s Maricunga Salt Lake (2013), Argentina’s Pozuelos Salt Lake (2014), and Argentina’s Cauchari Salt Lake (2015). The lithium processing plant at the Pozuelos Salt Lake in Argentina will have an annual processing capacity of 2,500 tons of high-purity lithium that can be used in rechargeable car batteries.

Pozuelos Salt Lake in Argentina

Eco-friendly Extraction Using Recycled Batteries

POSCO has also commercialized a new eco-friendly technology used to produce lithium carbonate. While lithium is typically extracted from salt, for the first time ever, POSCO developed a way to extract lithium from recycled batteries.

The lithium carbonate produced from these recycled secondary batteries was tested in January 2017 and found to be of equal quality in terms of purity, charge, discharge efficiency, and capacity. This technology is used at POSCO’s PosLX plant with an annual capacity of 2,500 tons, and will help supply POSCO’s battery making partners such as LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and POSCO ESM, a subsidiary that produces cathodes for secondary batteries.

With POSCO’s unique technologies in place, POSCO is planning to increase production capacities to over 40,000 tons of lithium – both at home and abroad.

From left to right: Jae-chun Song, chairman of Gwangyang City Council, Hyun-bok Jeong, mayor of Gwangyang, Gi-jong Woo, deputy governor of South Jeolla Province, POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon, Ung-beom Lee, president of LG Chem and Nam-seong Cho, president of Samsung SDI who can be seen pressing symbolic buzzers to show that the plant is now online.

CEO Ohjoon Kwon’s Commitment to Grow POSCO’s Non-Steel Business

Since 2010 when he was a director at RIST, POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon has worked to promote the advancement of lithium extraction technology. His work can be seen in POSCO’s recent efforts to significantly cut extraction time while also finding new and eco-friendly sources of lithium carbonate.

POSCO Chairman Ohjoon Kwon gives a celebratory speech at a newly built lithium extract plant in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, on Feb. 7.

When Kwon was appointed as POSCO’s CEO in 2014, he focused on strengthening POSCO’s steel businesses. However, as he begins his second term, he has emphasized the need for POSCO to search for profitable growth engines in order to strengthen its global competitiveness.

“Our vision is what propelled us to keep going in spite of many difficulties and limitations.” – Ohjoon Kwon, CEO

In the world’s growing lithium market, POSCO is determined to become a leading supplier. While strengthening its non-steel business segments, POSCO will continue working to provide innovative technologies that are efficient, effective, and eco-friendly.

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POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon, fourth from left, with company executive during a ceremony to mark the construction of the steelmaker’s lithium processing plant in Salta, Argentina, February 14 (local time)

“We have brought our advanced and environmental-friendly technology to extract and process lithium,” said Kwon at the ceremony. “We will continue to expand our operations in Argentina and boost cooperation with our partners here to create a win-win solution for all.”

POSCO’s lithium processing plant will be located at Pozuelos Salt Lake, which rises 4,000 meters above sea level. It will have an annual processing capacity of 2,500 tons of high-purity lithium for rechargeable batteries, and will supply them to domestic and international mineral manufacturing enterprises that produce minerals for car batteries. Considering the fact that it takes an average of 40 kilograms of high-purified lithium to make a single electric car battery, this equates to about 60,000 electric cars a year.

Pozuelos Lake, which spans 106 square kilometers and is estimated to have about 1.5 million tons of lithium reserves, is considered to be an optimal location to produce lithium.

Pozuelos Salt Lake is considered to be an optimal location for producing lithium. POSCO plans to extract and process about 2,500 tons of lithium annually after completing the construction of the plant here by the end of this year.

Earlier this year, POSCO signed a supply contract with Lithea Inc. of Argentina, the company owning the mining rights of Pozuelo Salt Lake and securing the stable permissions to access the lake. POSCO also set a solid foundation for entering the lithium business through developing an independent technology that is economically-friendly.

The Pozuelo Salt Lake plant will use POSCO’s innovative and independent technology that dramatically reduces the lithium extraction period, which usually takes more than a year, through chemical reaction.

POSCO’s high-efficiency lithium extract technology, which was developed with support from the energy resource technology development project led by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2010, does not require a large area of salt farm compared to the conventional evaporation and extraction method, and is less affected by changes in climate. Moreover, since there is very little loss when extracting lithium, it is possible to extract the same amount of lithium, compared to the conventional process, even by using a less amount of salt water. Therefore, POSCO’s high-efficiency lithium extract technology is an economical and environmental-friendly technology.

POSCO’s lithium business is one of the main businesses that has taken the lead in developing production technologies since 2010, when POSCO CEO Ohjoon Kwon was the Director at the Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST). Since the development of the company’s high-efficiency lithium extract technology in 2010, POSCO has been beefing up pilot production from 2 tons to 200 tons, while examining the economic viability of the technology.

The world’s lithium market has grown from 70,000 tons in 2002 to 170,000 tons in 2014, and is a promising market that is projected to grow to 270,000 tons by 2020. Of this, the lithium market for electric car batteries, which will be produced by POSCO, is expected to be 135,000 tons, accounting for half of the entire market. Nonetheless, the Korean battery manufacturers that depend entirely on lithium imports are currently suffering from unstable supplies and price hikes.

With an increase in sales of electric cars worldwide including China, which is aiming to further promote electric cars across the nation, the lithium industry is welcoming POSCO for its new lithium business. Due to the recent shortage of lithium supplies and price increases, global battery manufacturers are already starting to discuss the possibility of lithium supply contracts with POSCO.

Meanwhile, CEO Ohjoon Kwon had an exclusive meeting with Mauricio Macri, the president of Argentina, on February 15 following the ceremony marking the construction of the steelmaker’s lithium processing plant in Argentina. Kwon discussed POSCO’s excellent lithium extract technology and the technology development process. He also talked about future plans for building a consistent and cooperative relationship with Argentina for lithium development.

POSCO Lithium Business Progress

2010: Development of the world’s first independent lithium extract technology using chemical reaction

2011: Establishment and operation of pilot production facilities with RIST (Annual Capa: 2 tons)

– Process aim was 100% achieved and qualification process for enlargement was completed

2013: Completion of pilot production at Maricunga Salt Lake in Chile (Annual Capa: 20 tons)

2014: Completion of pilot production at Pozuelos Salt Lake in Argentina (Annual Capa: 20 tons)

2015: Completion of pilot production at Cauchari Salt Lake in Argentina (Annual Capa: 200 tons)

2016: Start of construction of lithium processing plant at Pozuelos Salt Lake in Argentina (Annual Capa: 2,500 tons); Projected to complete construction and begin production this year

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