India’s Lohum, a company in the sustainable energy and battery materials space, has become the first company outside of China and one of only five globally to successfully produce Lithium in its pure metallic form at a large scale. The company said that it has achieved this feat following two years of Research & Development.
It is worth noting that there have been other companies that have been in the Li-ion battery recycling powder space in India but Lohum will be the first company outside China to produce pure Lithium metal after recycling batteries.
Speaking to TOI Auto, Rajat Verma, Founder & CEO, informed about the company’s expansion plans. “In India, we plan to add our fourth facility within the Delhi NCR region, where the other three facilities are located. With the fourth facility in place, the company plans to have a combined capacity of recycling 20,000 tonnes of batteries each year.”
The company plans to expand its R&D and recycling capacities with the fifth plant. The new facility will allow the company to increase the headcount in R&D to 200 from the current 60. “Today, our customers and partners are all across the globe in the US, EU, Middle East, and Africa, and we are expanding our partnerships in each of these geographies.” he added.
Speaking about the sources that the company is getting batteries from, Verma said “We currently get source batteries from OEMs, Dealers, Fleet Players, and Insurance Companies”
While there’s still time for the recycled Lithium metal to be used in EVs, the company has adopted Chakiya village near Lucknow – to provide power through second-life batteries of MG Motors. These are charged by solar energy and are capable of providing electricity for about 4-6 hours.
It is interesting to note that the technology has implications for small-sized Lithium-air batteries, which could power an electric vehicle for approximately 1,000 kms on a single charge, thus eliminating any sort of range anxiety, which is currently posing a roadblock in the adoption of EVs.
The company said that its efficiency to recycle and refine Lithium metal from battery waste, ores, slag, and production scrap is set to effectively break China’s monopoly on battery materials and cell technology.
Pure Lithium metal finds applications in a wide array of industries, including electric vehicle batteries, consumer electronics, aerospace, advanced metallurgy, medical devices, and industrial compounds.
