The world's first seawater lithium extraction project landed in Qingdao and is expected to be put into operation by the end of December.
Thank you CTOnews.com netizen Mr. Aviation for the clue delivery! CTOnews.com March 11 news, According to "Qingdao release" Weixin Official Accounts news, On the morning of March 8, Qingdao held the world's first seawater desalination concentrated brine lithium extraction cooperation project signing ceremony, Officially launched the world's first seawater lithium extraction project construction, Marking seawater lithium extraction from engineering verification to industrialization of a new stage.
According to introduction, the seawater lithium extraction project is located in Qingdao Baifa Seawater Desalination Plant. The project construction and commercial cooperation scheme have been completed and are expected to be officially put into operation by the end of December.
China is the largest lithium consumer. Because the recoverable lithium reserves on land mainly come from ore and salt lake brine, affected by factors such as less exploitable resources and high solid waste treatment cost in the development process, the dependence of lithium resources on foreign countries in China is as high as 70%, and there is a huge gap in lithium resource supply.
The lithium resources in seawater are about 230 billion tons, which is 16,000 times the total amount of lithium resources that can be mined in the world. However, the lithium ion concentration in seawater is extremely low, only one hundred thousandth of that of spodumene in Australia, so it is extremely difficult to extract. This time, the launch of Qingdao Seawater Lithium Extraction Project has far-reaching significance for promoting the realization of independent and controllable lithium resources.
According to Qingdao News, the project uses concentrated brine produced by Qingdao Baifa Seawater Desalination Plant to extract lithium element before discharge, which can produce about 40 tons of lithium carbonate every year.
CTOnews.com learned from the official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that in 2022, China's lithium-ion battery industry adhered to supply-side structural reform and accelerated technological innovation and transformation and upgrading. In 2022, the national lithium-ion battery output reached 750GWh, an increase of more than 130% year-on-year, among which the output of energy-storage lithium battery exceeded 100GWh. The output of lithium first-order materials such as cathode materials, anode materials, separators and electrolytes was about 1.85 million tons, 1.4 million tons, 13 billion square meters and 850,000 tons respectively, with a year-on-year growth of more than 60%; the industrial scale was further expanded, and the total output value of the industry exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan.
