Oil big Exxon Mobil has introduced plans to enter the marketplace for the important thing electrical automobile (EV) battery mineral lithium, stating that it plans to arrange its “first section” of lithium manufacturing within the U.S. by 2027.
Exxon will produce lithium in southwest Arkansas, with preliminary manufacturing beginning as quickly as 2027, based on a press launch shared on Monday. The corporate arm will likely be branded Mobil Lithium, and it goals to be a lead provider of lithium for EV batteries by 2030.
Earlier this 12 months, Exxon acquired the rights to over 120,000 gross acres of the Smackover Formation, which homes one of the vital huge reserves of lithium in North America. The corporate expects the location to assist contribute to U.S. power stability, together with progressing U.S. local weather initiatives and supporting manufacturing.
It additionally says present talks with potential companions, together with EV and battery producers, are nonetheless ongoing.
Extra lithium for #EV batteries. Much less environmental affect.
That’s the thought behind our groundbreaking plan to place North America on the map as a worldwide lithium producer.
Introducing … Mobil™ Lithium.
Be taught extra: https://t.co/hUorLbrdLc pic.twitter.com/AYTY9RrdqK
— ExxonMobil (@exxonmobil) November 13, 2023
“Lithium is important to the power transition, and ExxonMobil has a number one function to play in paving the best way for electrification,” ExxonMobil Low Carbon Options President Dan Ammann stated. “This landmark challenge applies many years of ExxonMobil experience to unlock huge provides of North American lithium with far fewer environmental impacts than conventional mining operations.”
Exxon says it would use oil and gasoline drilling strategies within the space to succeed in lithium-rich saltwater in reservoirs 10,000 toes beneath the bottom. The corporate plans to make use of direct lithium extraction (DLE) to separate the mineral from the encircling saltwater earlier than changing the lithium to battery-grade supplies. Moreover, Exxon says it would re-inject the remaining saltwater again into the reservoirs as soon as the method is full.
Notably, the corporate says the DLE course of produces fewer carbon emissions than onerous rock mining, and it requires much less land.
“South Arkansas is our state’s all-around power capital, producing oil, pure gasoline, and now because of investments like ExxonMobil’s and their mixture of expertise and scale, lithium,” Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders stated. “My administration helps an all-of-the-above power technique that ensures good, high-paying jobs for Arkansans – and we’ll proceed to chop taxes and slash purple tape to make that occur.”
Exxon says it expects demand for lithium to quadruple by 2030, at which level it goals to provide sufficient battery-grade lithium to produce over one million EVs per 12 months.
Apparently sufficient, Exxon invented the lithium-ion battery in 1972, although the corporate stepped away from the road of merchandise. Now, they’re utilized in smartphones and different gadgets, and at a a lot bigger scale, they’re additionally utilized in EVs.
A number of firms have introduced investments in lithium manufacturing, particularly because the U.S. hopes to scale back reliance on international battery provide chains. One instance contains EV big Tesla, which is hoping to start lithium refining in Robstown, Texas, in 2024.
Tesla lithium refinery to start out productionIN Q1 2024
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