Lanxess Cooperates with Chinese Battery Maker
German specialty chemicals producer Lanxess is establishing a foothold for itself in battery chemistry. The company has inked a deal to cooperate with Guangzhou Tinci Materials Technology Co. (Tinci), a China-based global manufacturer of lithium-ion battery materials.
From 2022, Lanxess will toll manufacture electrolyte formulations for Tinci’s battery in a high-tech plant operated by subsidiary Saltigo at Leverkusen, Germany – the electrolyte’s function is to transport lithium ions in the battery cell.
The company said Saltigo will bring its extensive chemical expertise to the partnership, while at the same time further expanding its experience in the field of electrolyte production.
In the Leverkusen plant electrolytes can be formulated in line with highest quality requirements, it added.
Regarded as one of the world's leading manufacturers of conductive salts and electrolytes, Tinci currently operates three production sites for electrolyte formulations in China, with three additional sites under construction.
With the upswing in E-Mobility accelerating and numerous new plants for battery cell production being built in Europe, Lanxess managing board member Anno Borkowsky said the fast-growing market also offers great opportunities for the German company to establish itself in the field of battery chemistry.
Lanxess already produces numerous chemicals and materials crucial to production of battery cells. It considers itself is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of hydrofluoric acid and phosphorous chemicals, both key raw materials for production of the high-purity conductive salt lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6).
In the US, the Cologne-based company is also working on the commercial extraction of battery-grade lithium, an important feedstock for the production of cathode materials and conductive salts. As previously announced, it will extract the lithium in an environmentally friendly manner from the brine used in bromine extraction at its site in El Dorado, Arkansas.
In 2020, Lanxess established a group-wide initiative for e-mobility and circular economy to bundle applications where it sees strategic potential. “Our goal is to develop sustainable, value-creating business models around new mobility and circular economy. The cooperation with Tinci is a promising project in this regard,” said Philipp Junge, head of the initiative.
Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist
