Baton Rouge-based Albemarle says it is evaluating sites in the United States and Asia for a new lithium plant it hopes to have operational by 2020. The specialty chemicals company is also conducting feasibility studies on the new facility, which would boost production of battery grade lithium and lithium compounds by 50,000 metric tons annually.
“Albemarle recognizes the significant energy storage movement globally and views this plan as the logical next step in our continued support of leading companies in the transportation, consumer devices and renewable energy industries,” says president and CEO Luke Kissam in a prepared statement. “By expanding our production capabilities, we will be prepared to meet the growing market-driven demand for high-quality, battery grade lithium products as our customers in the global transportation and energy infrastructure industries innovate to utilize energy more efficiently and effectively.”
Albemarle has become one of the leading companies in the lithium market with the recent acquisition of New Jersey-based Rockwood Holdings Inc. The $6.2 billion deal to acquire Rockwood—one of the largest takeovers of a diversified chemicals company ever—was initially announced in July 2014 and was completed on Jan. 12.
As Business Report detailed in a feature earlier this year, the deal increases the size of Albemarle’s operations by more than 60% and positions it as a major player in the international market for lithium—the key ingredient in the lithium-ion battery, which is the most commercially dominant energy storage technology on the planet.
“This expansion plan is expected to further solidify Albemarle’s cost leadership position in the growing market for lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide,” the company says in a press release this morning.
Albemarle says it plans to source spodumene ore from a joint venture in Greenbushes, Australia, for its new plant. The company did not say this morning when a final decision on the plant would be made, but says it plans to build it in multiple phases.
Last month, Albemarle announced it will be relocating its corporate headquarters from Baton Rouge to Charlotte, North Carolina. Some 120 employees will be affected by the relocation, while about 500 workers will remain in Baton Rouge.
