Lifthium Seeks OK for Lithium Hydroxide Plant in Coimbra Tech Park, Portugal

Lifthium Energy plans to establish a lithium hydroxide production research and development unit at Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, Coimbra Municipality. (Photo from the Vamos, Coimbra Facebook group, December 23, 2024)

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Lifthium Energy's proposal for environmental licensing of a lithium hydroxide research facility in Coimbra iParque in Antanhol, a science and technology park in Coimbra Municipality, is open to public consultation until December 18.

Lifthium plans to build a lithium refinery complex in the Estarreja chemical complex on investor Bondalti's land in Aveiro District. The refinery would supply 28,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year for more than half a million electric batteries per year, according to a document for public consultation, reported Expresso (June 27).The refinery complex has a construction period of 18 months and an estimated lifespan of 25 years.

"However, before proceeding with this investment, Lifthium intends to develop a demonstration project of its technology in Coimbra," according to Expresso (June 27).

Lithium is never found in its elemental form in nature due to its reactivity, but it occurs in more than 100 different mineral compounds. However, deposits, which are economically viable to exploit are relatively rare and fall into two broad categories – brine, as in the Lithium Triangle of Chile, Bolivia and Argentina, and hard rock. In Portugal, hard rock, specifically, spodumene, typically found in pegmatites, a coarse granite, is the source.

Bondalti says on its website that it will use two technologies, one starting with lithium chloride and the other starting with spodumene.

"From lithium chloride: It focuses on refining lithium chloride by adapting electrolysis technology, taking advantage of the expertise gained by Bondalti in implementing this process in the chlori-alkali sector. . . .

"From spodumene: Approach to a conventional refining technology, based on the transformation of spodumene rock into lithium hydroxide. . . ."

From Lithium Chloride

"NORAM Electrolysis Systems (NESI) has recently completed an extensive validation program using NORSCAND (registered trademark) Electrolysis technology, producing 25m3 of high-purity battery-grade lithium hydroxide. This program was conducted in partnership with Lifthium Energy SA (Lifthium) to advance its planned 28,000 TPY (tons per year) Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate (LHM) refinery," according to NESI's website (December 10, 2024).

"The validation program included 4,000 hours of NESI NS-01 test cell operation and 250 hours of continuous industrial scale NESI NORSCAND (registered trademark) cell operation to produce battery-grade lithium hydroxide. All work was completed at NESI's industrial scale electrolysis facility in Richmond, BC (British Columbia), Canada, utilizing lithium chloride brine provided and pre-treated by Lifthium. The produced lithium hydroxide will be further processed by crystallization to produce tonnage quantities of battery-grade LHM (Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate).

"This validation program confirmed the longevity of critical electrolysis components, the expected performance of the electrolysis system, and provided confirmation of the quality and suitability of the lithium chloride feed brine for electrochemical conversion.

"NESI's ability to perform validation programs helps owners and operators de-risk their projects by not only confirming process viability with actual feedstock, but also garnering accurate real-world operating data using the dame industrial-scale equipment specified for commercial-scale plants (20,000 TPY (tons per year) LHM (Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate) and higher).

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Lithium carbonate conversion into battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate through electrolysis (From Lifthium's website)

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Lifthium's submission to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) does not include a technical or non-technical project overview or summary.

It does include a 50-page response to questions posed by the Portuguese Environment Agency (Resposta ao Pedido de Elementos Adicionais ao Processo LUA n.º PL20250723007524) and 28 annexes related to the answers and subsequent changes.

A few subjects mentioned are atmospheric emissions of various chemicals from reactor and tank vents; the classification of liquid effluent waste and its collection by a waste management company, and an application for authorization to discharge industrial wastewater into the sewer system. However, without the original document, these answers are not adequate for an understanding of the project.

Lifthium's First Licensing Stage

By 2030, three lithium refineries would be under development, two of which would be in operation, with a refining capacity of 50,000 tons per year, according to the Bondalti website. More than 2 million cars per year would be powered by electric batteries containing lithium hydroxide supplied by this business area.

The Lifthium project is in the licensing phase for its first plant, according to the website of Bondalti, which owns 15 percent of the new venture. A "scope definition proposal", a document in preparation for the environmental impact assessment process, has been submitted to the Central Region Coordination and Development Commission, reported Expresso. Public consultation was scheduled to end on July 7.

The company's lithium refinery project, called LiftOne, has obtained Potential National Interest (PIN) status from the Portuguese State. In March, it was named as one of four projects in Portugal which the European Commission deemed as strategic projects to boost domestic strategic raw materials capabilities. Both designations speed up licensing procedures.

IAPMEI (Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation) marked €15.1 million out of its €4.2 billion tranche of Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência (PRR) funds for Lifthium Energy. A total of €9 million had been allocated to the company as of August 29. The date of conclusion is December 31. Lifthium's project was one of 13,300 to benefit from IAPMEI's European Union PRR funds, reported Mais Transparência, a government portal covering various topics related to the management of public resources in the Portuguese State.

Lifthium Energy, created in 2023, is controlled by the José de Mello group, a family-based business founded in 1898. José de Mello directly owns 85 percent of Lifthium and the remaining 15 percent indirectly through Bondalti, reported Expresso (June 27). Bondalti is

the largest Portuguese producer in the industrial chemicals sector, according to the José de Mello website.

"Under in-Depth Analysis"

The José de Mello group already has invested €35 million in the project, reported Jornal de Negócios (June 3).

However, the project is still "under in-depth analysis", said Salvador de Mello, the CEO of the José de Mello group, at the beginning of June, when presenting the annual report of the José de Mello group, adding that "if the investment decision materializes -- which is still uncertain -- it will give rise to a new business platform."

When questioned by Expresso, it was emphasized that the ongoing environmental procedure "does not represent a final investment, which has not yet been made".

In February, in an interview with ECO, João de Mello, president of Bondalti said that it was decided that if the group were to proceed with a lithium facility, it would be in Portugal, after having considered investing in Spain, reported Expresso (June 27).

According to Jornal de Negócios (June 3), Salvador de Mello said:

"The long-term trends of fleet electrification continue and, therefore, we continue to believe that there is potential because the Lifthium project aims to meet this need.

"We are proceeding along the path, which involves having a demonstration factory which is being prepared in Coimbra (which still needs licensing to operate) . . . but these processes always are more time-consuming than we would like. And therefore, we have to go through these phases and a final one: the financing of the project, which presupposes having a product on a scale for demonstration, so that customers are reassured, and the conclusion of commercial agreements."

EU's Mission of Self-Sufficiency

The European Union (EU) is keen on reducing European dependence on external suppliers of critical raw materials and their processing by becoming more self-sufficient.

The European Union’s share of the global production of most critical raw materials is lower than 7 percent, according to The Future of European Competitiveness (September 2024), by Mario Draghi, the economist who headed the European Central Bank (2011-2019).

Europe has several upcoming and operational lithium hydrogen plants, including AMG (Advanced Metallurgical Group) Lithium, the first on the continent capable of producing 20,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year for about 500,000 electric cars, and which opened in September 2024 in Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany, according to Potech Technopharm (January 12).

China holds a quasi-monopoly on the processing and refining of critical minerals. Regarding refining operations, the market has become even more concentrated over time. China holds half of all planned lithium chemical plants.

China dominates global critical mineral supply chains. The country is the leading source of numerous critical minerals and accounts for almost 70 percent of the world’s output of rare earth minerals, according to The Future of European Competitiveness.

In 2013, China adopted the Belt and Road initiative, which included active investment in mining assets in Africa, Indonesia and Latin America as well as investment in overseas refining and other industrial facilities, with the aim of securing strategic access to raw materials.