Lithium Valley Main Report 2018
Lithium hydroxide currently commands a premium to lithium carbonate primarily due to its importance for high-grade battery storage. In batteries, lithium hydroxide has a large storage capacity and a long life between charges. Lithium hydroxide also provides the first solid state battery that improves efficiency and safety as well as being relatively cheap and light.
Figure 6: Energy metals most impacted by new technology 6
Metals most impacted by new technology
Tin Lithium Cobalt Silver Nickel Gold Tungsten Vanadium
Autonomous & Electric Vehicles
Advance Robotics
Renewable Energy
Advanced Computation & IT
Energy Storage
Electrical contact materials Tin, Silver, Gold Battery materials Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel (Tin, Silver, Vanadium, Graphite, Zinc)
Advanced Oil & Gas
Graphite Niobium Zinc PGM (Pt,Pd) Salt
AV/EV
Robotics
Renew-ables
Oil & Gas
Energy Storage
IT
Other
Source: MIT Lithium hydroxide currently commands a premium to lithium carbonate primarily due to its importance for high grade battery storage. In batteries, lithium hydroxide has a larger storage capacity and a longer life between charges. Lithium hydroxide also provides the first solid-state battery that improves efficiency and safety as well as being relatively cheap and light. 4.2 Batteries, Storage and Lithium: Understanding the Value Chain Lithium has several uses, including glass and ceramics, lubricants, flux additives for metal alloys, lithium batteries, and lithium-ion batteries (Figure 7). These uses currently consume more than three quarters of lithium production.
7
Lithium End Uses - 2017
Figure 7: Lithium 2017 consumption by end use
46%
27%
7% 5% 4% 2% 9%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Batteries
Ceramics and Glass
Lubricating Greases
Polymer Production
Continuous Casting Mold Flux Powder
Air Treatment
Other Uses
Source: USGS
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