Recently, Albemarle announced that the company had signed agreements in order to move forwards with its design, engineering, and permitting plans for the expansion of Lithium conversion capacity at the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park in the Zhangjiagang Free Trade Zone, Jiangsu province, and the Pengshan Economic Development Park in the Pengshan District, Sichuan province.

Albemarle will be building a conversion plant at each site with each of the facility having a planned production capacity of 50000 tonnes per year. The two plants are expected to become operational by 2024.

With the proposed investment Albemarle will be looking forwards towards increasing its global capacity for battery grade Lithium Hydroxide which is among the highest in the world. As the demand for electric vehicles rises, the company will be adding additional capacity in order to meet the growing demand.

Lithium is among the most important battery materials which are employed in the manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries. The demand for battery materials stood at around 500 kilotons in the year 2020 and is expected to rise with a healthy CAGR of around 10% during the upcoming years. The demand for electric vehicles will be highest in the Asia Pacific region in the upcoming scenario, hence the proposed investment by Albemarle is aimed at capturing the regional demand growth in the APAC region for battery materials.

As per ChemAnalyst, “the plan of Albemarle to build two Lithium conversion plants of 50 kilotons capacity each reflects the company’s long term strategy to capture battery grade Lithium demand in the region. With the rise in the capacity of Lithium in China the supply pressure in APAC will reduce and the prices for battery grade Lithium will also tend to settle with the upcoming new facilities.”