{"id":36489,"date":"2020-01-20T07:40:20","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T21:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=36489"},"modified":"2020-01-20T07:40:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T21:10:20","slug":"lithium-co2-intensity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/lithium-co2-intensity\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Says Australian Lithium Needs To Get Greener"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Australian

Australia has lots of lithium. Unfortunately due to the nature of the deposits, it takes a lot of energy to process into a form suitable for batteries. Luckily there are solutions to this problem.<\/p><\/div>\n

I feel undeservedly lucky, that in the worst bushfire summer imaginable, fires came no closer than about 5 km from the little patch of bush I inhabit.<\/p>\n

The bushfire crisis brought home a fearful truth: climate change is no longer a worrying future – it\u2019s here and now, and we have to decarbonise sooner than we hoped.<\/p>\n

In the energy market, that has started – and is accelerating. Sunwiz just reported<\/a> that in December 2019, all Australia\u2019s mainland states broke records for new PV installs. With 220MW installed in December, that leaves Australia with 10.2GW of solar power capacity nationwide.<\/p>\n

Transport, however, remains stubbornly wedded to fossil fuel. Although The Driven<\/a> was able to trumpet record EV sales in Australia in 2019 (in an otherwise tanking new motor vehicle market), it amounted to a mere 3,000 vehicles.<\/p>\n

Battery-Grade Lithium: The Achilles’ Heel Of EVs<\/h2>\n

Clearly the world needs to decarbonise transport, fast – but here a paradox emerges: while electric vehicles<\/a> emit less CO2 than internal combustion engine vehicles, their contribution is non-zero, and the growth in EV sales worldwide could spike vehicle manufacture emissions.<\/p>\n

Why? As Jade Cove Partners analyst Alex Grant explained in\u00a0this LinkedIn post<\/a>, it\u2019s because the old way of extracting lithium – evaporation ponds, mostly in Chile – has neither the supply reliability nor the scale to meet the EV market\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

As a result, battery manufacturers have switched to a different source for their lithium:<\/p>\n

\u201cMajor lithium producers like Ganfeng, Albemarle, SQM, and Tianqi have turned to spodumene \u2018hard rock\u2019 deposits in Australia\u201d, Grant writes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s Australia\u2019s persistent inability to grab its own opportunities again – the carbon footprint of transporting ore to China is horrible. While there are projects underway as we reported last year<\/a>, they’re in their early stages. Last August, Albermarle cut $2.2 billion from its Australian investment plans, and in November it acquired and then closed<\/a> the Wodinga lithium mine.<\/p>\n

The spodumene is refined into lithium hydroxide for battery manufacture, and based on modelling using America\u2019s Argonne National Laboratory\u2019s life cycle model, that\u2019s problematic in terms of CO2 output. Grant states the energy input is expensive and if the energy inputs can\u2019t be decarbonised, the EVs at the end of the supply chain will have trouble in markets like the EU.<\/p>\n

Australia, You’re Missing An Opportunity<\/h2>\n

Right now, Jade Partners estimates processing Australian spodumene in China has a carbon impact of 14.8 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of lithium hydroxide, while Portugese spodumene sent to China involves 15.1 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of lithium hydroxide. As you can see in the image below, published in the Jade Partners post, that\u2019s at least twice the carbon intensity of battery grade lithium from brine.<\/p>\n

\"Lithium

Relative carbon intensity of different lithium sources. Source: Jade Cove Partners<\/p><\/div>\n

Grant writes that mining, roasting of the spodumene concentrate, and chemical conversion are the factors resulting in elevated CO2 intensity of lithium hydroxide. In addition, in terms of CO2 emissions, China is the worst place in the world to carry out the processing.<\/p>\n

While EVs retain their whole-of-life advantage over ICEs, he wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cjust because the Australian spodumene-Chinese conversion LiOH\u2022H2O supply chain was developed to meet demand in a 2010s \u201clithium rush\u201d, doesn\u2019t mean that such high CO2 intensity (and high cost) approaches should be deployed further as the lithium market grows\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What that means, he concludes, is lithium batteries that historically only contributed 4% of the embedded CO2 in an EV will contribute as much as 30% in the future if the industry doesn\u2019t get serious about decarbonising lithium processing and battery manufacture.<\/p>\n

It Can Be Done …<\/h2>\n

The good news is there are pathways to decarbonisation. One Grant highlighted are projects in the USA and Germany:<\/p>\n

\u201cgeothermal-lithium projects that use advanced direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies paired with low CO2 intense power\/heat from geothermal energy production\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If successful, such projects would eliminate both the mining of spodumene and the fossil fuel inputs needed for processing.<\/p>\n

The other is to find \u201cunconventional\u201d sources of lithium:<\/p>\n

\u201clike sedimentary materials which do not require roasting, but do require H2SO4. Sulfur can be burned on site to produce H2SO4 and low CO2 intense power\/heat produced to facilitate energy-intense lithium processing similar to the geothermal-lithium case.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, of course, the lower the carbon inputs into a country\u2019s electricity generation, the lower the carbon inputs in conversion. We\u2019d love to see the kind of entrepreneurial enthusiasm that\u2019s backing renewable electricity export projects turned towards Australia\u2019s potential as a low-carbon lithium powerhouse.<\/p>\n

Also, Grant added:<\/p>\n

\u201cInstitutional investors, especially those in Europe, should fund new lithium projects which may be able to produce veritably (quantified) low or negative carbon intensity LiOH\u2022H2O products.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I feel undeservedly lucky, that in the worst bushfire summer imaginable, fires came no closer than about 5 km from the little patch of bush I inhabit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":36523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battery-storage","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnalyst Says Australian Lithium Needs To Get Greener<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Australia has lots of lithium, but it takes a lot of energy to process into a form suitable for batteries. 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The firm, Solar Analytics, monitors energy consumption and performance of solar power systems situated at 35,000 sites across Australia. The company reported on Monday\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bushfire smoke and solar panels","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-bushfire-smoke.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-bushfire-smoke.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-bushfire-smoke.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-bushfire-smoke.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/solar-bushfire-smoke.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36748,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/off-grid-australia-mb1380\/","url_meta":{"origin":36489,"position":1},"title":"More Off-Grid Solar + Energy Storage For The Bush?","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The bushfire crisis has some electricity distributors thinking more about utilising solar power and battery storage. Electricity network infrastructure has copped a hammering in bushfire affected areas and according to this ABC report, the situation could result in higher electricity prices down the track for Australians in bushfire-prone areas due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Off grid solar power","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/off-grid-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/off-grid-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/off-grid-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/off-grid-solar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/off-grid-solar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":37512,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/solar-phasa-35-trials-mb1413\/","url_meta":{"origin":36489,"position":2},"title":"Solar Powered PHASA-35 Completes First Test Flight In Australia","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"February 19, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"BAE Systems is celebrating the successful maiden flight of a solar powered High-Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) aircraft at the RAAF's Woomera Test Range in South Australia. PHASA-35 is an unmanned 35-metre wingspan solar-electric aircraft that has progressed from design to flight in just 20 months. Built in partnership with UK's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"PHASA-35 - BAE Systems","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/phasa-35-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/phasa-35-solar.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/phasa-35-solar.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/phasa-35-solar.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/phasa-35-solar.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2957,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/bushfires-australia-whos-going-talk-elephant-room\/","url_meta":{"origin":36489,"position":3},"title":"Bushfires in Australia: who\u2019s going to talk about the elephant in the room?","author":"Staff Writer","date":"October 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A worrying time for your correspondent this week readers as bushfires, which have claimed well\u00a0over a hundred properties continue to rage in my region of the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney. While my town is safe for now, bushfires rage further up the Mountains and down in the Lower\u00a0Mountains where\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Solar Policy"","block_context":{"text":"Solar Policy","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-policy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"bushfire","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/bushfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/bushfire.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/bushfire.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36274,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/fossil-fuel-bushfire-recovery-mb1358\/","url_meta":{"origin":36489,"position":4},"title":"Fossil Fuel Producers Should Pay For Bushfire Recovery Fund : TAI","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 8, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Australia Institute welcomed the Morrison Government\u2019s $2 billion bushfire recovery fund announcement, but questions why regular taxpayers will be paying for it. TAI says a levy on fossil fuel producers would be a more appropriate approach. Back in mid-December, TAI released details of its proposed National Climate Disaster Fund\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image: Scott Morrison via Facebook","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/bushfire-disaster-fund.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/bushfire-disaster-fund.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/bushfire-disaster-fund.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/bushfire-disaster-fund.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/bushfire-disaster-fund.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36503,"url":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/climate-attitudes-australia-mb1369\/","url_meta":{"origin":36489,"position":5},"title":"Climate Change Concerns Climb In Australia","author":"Michael Bloch","date":"January 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The level of concern among Australians regarding climate change and its impacts has increased significantly due to the nation's bushfire crisis. Climate of the Nation is a long running-survey commissioned by The Australia Institute (TAI), gauging attitudes in the community on the issue of climate change. The latest related poll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Solar & Storage News"","block_context":{"text":"General Solar & Storage News","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/category\/solar-battery-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Climate change attitudes in Australia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/climate-australia-attitude.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/climate-australia-attitude.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/climate-australia-attitude.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/climate-australia-attitude.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/climate-australia-attitude.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36489"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36630,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36489\/revisions\/36630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}