Focused on environmental sustainability
WE ARE BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE LITHIUM REFINERY IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND.
With a strong focus on environmental sustainability, ours is a low-carbon refining flow sheet which clearly differentiates us from conventional resource-intensive and carbon-intensive processes. We also have a no-waste ambition and we're currently exploring several markets for our co-products.
Our refining process will be powered by renewable energy and we have plans to incorporate carbon capture technology. Alongside these measures, we are currently evaluating options to incorporate recycled battery materials as input to the refining process. It's our goal to maximise product circularity.
Green Lithium's refinery will accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and sustainable energy storage through the increased supply of low-carbon, battery-grade lithium chemicals – a key component of lithium-ion batteries.
AN EMISSIONS STRATEGY WITH CLEAR AND ACHIEVABLE OBJECTIVES.
We're aiming to do all we can to minimise emissions from our refinery process, and the associated electricity we consume.
While we plan for some of our electricity to be solar or wind generated on-site, most will be purchased from third-party utility suppliers. We will therefore enter into green power purchase agreements for the supply of power to the plant. Our gas mix will progressively move towards 100% green hydrogen, which we target reaching by 2035.
It's also our goal to eliminate, or at least significantly reduce, scope three emissions by 2040.
Our sustainability measures
Low-Carbon Refining Process
Within the lithium-ion battery supply chain, the refining process can account for material emissions. Current processes may not comply with European environmental standards expected to be included in the incoming EU Battery Regulation.
Using gas rather than coal and adopting alkali leach processing technology, are some of the ways by which we’ll significantly reduce our carbon emissions.
Marketable Co-Products
Our process produces silicate sand and calcium carbonate co-products and we're actively exploring circular economy possibilities for these, for example to be used as raw material for construction products.
We've also been having conversations within the minerals recycling industry and test works are underway.
Supply Chain Traceability
We're looking to provide full transparency on our product’s sustainability credentials. Key to this is ESG passporting technology, and we are looking to deploy a traceability blockchain product to enable this.
This product involves creation at source of a digital twin that captures the material’s ESG credentials and tracks the material as it changes state across its journey. This will provide full visibility across the supply chain.
Carbon Capture
Carbon capture will remain part of our long-term strategy. This is why we have engaged with UK-based experts in all forms of carbon reduction and carbon capture technology.
Battery Recycling
We're exploring how the refinery could be used to either process or purify lithium from recycled batteries.
OUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
We've partnered with Minviro, an organisation that conducts innovative life-cycle analysis across the raw materials sector. They undertook a preliminary carbon and environmental life-cycle assessment to quantify the environmental performance for our production facility. They also benchmarked the environmental impact against other equivalent/competitor lithium production routes and refinery projects.
There were some impressive key takeaways…
Compared to existing refineries in East Asia which, for each kilogram of lithium hydroxide produced, emit 16.2 kilograms of CO2, we would be able to produce lithium hydroxide with a corresponding carbon footprint of 8.0 kilograms.
With Minviro we have explored various carbon reduction strategies, many of which form part of our base plan. These include the introduction of hydrogen into the fuel mix, utilisation of carbon capture and storage, and purchase of lower-carbon reagents and spodumene.
All of these would allow further reductions, driving CO2 emissions down to 3.3 kilograms per kilogram of lithium hydroxide produced.
The demand for electric vehicles continues to grow and Europe currently lacks the infrastructure to meet the needs of the supply chain. In order to understand the urgency of the situation, we need to consider the market as a whole.