Tag: Battery

Indonesian nickel miner Merdeka Battery Materials (MBMA) and partners have signed definitive agreements to construct a high-pressure acid leach (HPAL) plant on the Morowali industrial park, Sulawesi. The unit will have a nameplate capacity of 90,000 t/a of contained nickel in mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP). PT Sulawesi Nickel Cobalt (SLNC) will construct and operate the plant adjacent to the existing HPAL plant operated by PT Huayue Nickel Cobalt (HNC). SLNC will source and process laterite nickel ore through a 20 year commercial agreement with MBMA's SCM mine, starting from the commissioning date. An ore preparation plant will be built at the SCM mine to enable ore transportation via pipeline to the SLNC processing plant at IMIP. The total combined investment for constructing SLNC (including interest incurred during construction) is expected to be approximately $1.8 billion according to Merdeka. Construction of the project commenced in January 2025 and is expected to reach commissioning stage within 18 months.

Lithium sulphur battery manufacturer Lyten has signed agreements with California Sulphur Company, at the Port of Los Angeles, and a Port of Stockton company to supply US domestically sourced, industrial-grade sulphur to Lyten’s manufacturing facilities in San Jose, CA, San Leandro, CA, and its recently announced Reno, NV, “gigafactory”.

Rapidly increasing lithium production is projected to require several million t/a of sulphuric acid in the next few years, with China, the USA and Australia the main consumers.

Nickel sulphate is an intermediate step in the production of materials for batteries, and is seeing rapid demand growth as the auto industry moves towards electric power trains.

Van Iperen International is pursuing an ambitious sustainability strategy to cut its carbon footprint by 50%.

An ammonium nitrate industry geared around producing explosives for the mining sector is now being joined by a major urea project and a number of renewables-based products for export of green ammonia.

Short term supply constraints are dominating acid markets at present, but increasing smelter production across Asia may lead to oversupply in the longer term.

China’s acid production continues to grow as new smelters come on-stream. But high domestic demand from phosphate production as export restrictions are lifted and a shortage of copper concentrate may limit the potential for acid exports.

Green ammonia production facilities can be situated in remote areas with access to often fully off-grid renewable power supply. This article examines plant concepts and discusses the challenges and solutions for these plant architectures. Through a case study, an efficient and innovative methodology to compare options and optimise the sizing of the plant is presented. The methodology addresses the intermittency of the power production, the flexibility limits of the main process units, and the costs of investment and operation, using proprietary techno-economic dynamic simulation software, Odyssey.

The refining industry continues to pivot towards Asia, with knock-on effects for sulphur output.