GM-backed EnergyX to launch Texas lithium facility
March 26 (Reuters) - EnergyX, a startup backed by General Motors GM.N, said on Thursday it has commissioned a lithium production facility at its project Lonestar, located in the Smackover formation in Texas.
Lithium demand has been surging globally, driven by the role of lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles, portable electronics and increased adoption of renewable energy storage solutions.
The Lonestar demonstration plant is operational and will produce roughly 250 metric tons per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate equivalent, the company said.
EnergyX expects production to scale to more than 100,000 metric tons per year.
Lithium refining remains a bottleneck in the U.S., with China controlling about 70%-75% of global lithium chemical conversion capacity.
The reliance on China for battery-grade lithium chemicals has kept margins low for domestic producers, undermining the economics of most non-Chinese projects, EnergyX said.
The company said the facility enables it to further optimize system design, validate process economics, and provide 5-25 ton samples of battery grade lithium to customers for qualification.
The Smackover formation is an underground geological formation stretching from Florida to Texas and could contain more than 4 million metric tons of lithium.
Companies aiming to extract lithium from the Smackover will need to use direct lithium extraction, a process that has yet to be widely proven at a commercial scale, with most projects still in pilot or early deployment.
