Bondalti established the company Lifthium Energy, whose objective is the large-scale refining of green lithium and the development of an innovative refining ecosystem, marked by high efficiency and the adoption of sustainable technologies.
Bondalti has been carrying out tests in a pilot facility, with a view to refining lithium through electrolysis. In view of the encouraging results already obtained and the market opportunities, however detected, he decided to create his own vehicle to promote a new leadership ambition in this refining industry at a national and international level.
Lifthium Energy is already in progress with the project for a first plant in Portugal, and plans to expand its operations to new units. The immediate objective is to have a refining capacity of 50,000 tons per year, with room to accelerate production, so as to have more than two million cars a year powered by electric batteries containing lithium hydroxide supplied by this business area.
Sustainability and logistics chains as distinctive factors
Sustainable lithium refining processes, including the adoption of electrolysis and renewable energies, namely green hydrogen, constitute Lifthium Energy's differentiating proposition.
Committed to establishing itself as a world reference, Lifthium wants to lead the industry to a more sustainable future, with the following main goals: reducing carbon emissions associated with lithium refining by more than 50% by 2030; ensuring sustainability along the entire value chain, prioritizing raw materials that respect the highest ESG standards; and combat waste in production to mitigate the environmental footprint.
Convinced that sustainability and innovation require a convergence effort, Lifthium intends to assume itself as an important actor in the creation of a national lithium ecosystem and in the transition to electric mobility, establishing partnerships with other important players in the sector.
“The technological ecosystem proposed by Lifthium Energy represents an important contribution to achieving the major goals of decarbonizing the economy, providing sustainability and circularity along the lithium value chain”, explains João de Mello, president of Bondalti and Lifthium Energy, to conclude: “This is a project that embodies our vision of a European lithium hub, allowing shorter and lower carbon logistics chains, and reducing Europe's external dependence on this matter”.
