The sustainable lightness of lithium
Lithium is a very light metal whose high energy storage capacity has earned it the nickname "white petrol". This material plays an important role in the global energy transition and is essential for the production of electric batteries.
Chemical element number 3
Silvery-white in colour, lithium is the least dense of all the metals. It is the third element in the periodic table, with the chemical symbol Li, and is so light that it floats on water and so soft that it can be cut with a knife. But the thing that makes it so sought-after and a key element today is its extraordinary energy storage capacity. Compared to other materials, it allows high charge densities to be accumulated in a relatively small space.
These properties have earned it the nickname "white petrol", as it carries with it the promise of leading the urgent transition from an energy model based on fossil fuels to one dominated by sustainable energy sources. It is currently the essential element for the production of electric car batteries.
A story of alternatives to oil
In nature, lithium – some of which was formed during the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago – only exists in mineral form or as a stable salt and not in its pure form, as it is chemically very reactive.
It was discovered by the Brazilian scientist Jozé Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, who, on the Swedish island of Utö in the 1790s, identified minerals he called petalite and spodumene. But it was not until 1817 that the Swedish chemist Johan August Arfwedson isolated a material he considered unknown and called it lithium.
It began to be used for medicinal purposes, and when a well-known soft drink was launched in 1929 – then called Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda – it contained lithium citrate to, according to its creator, improve the mood of those who drank it. The recipe was changed in 1948, when lithium was removed from drinks in the United States. A year later this property was used in the treatment of depressive and bipolar disorders and is still present today in medicines for this purpose.
By this time, lithium-based lubricants had also been invented and used in aeroplane engines, and later industrial uses extended to the production of ceramics and glass. The demand for this material increased even more when, during the Cold War, it began to be used for the production of nuclear weapons.
It was during the oil crisis of the 1970s that lithium entered the modern era: British chemist Stanley Whittingham developed an unstable lithium-titanium battery. In the following decade, American scientist John B. Goodenough created one made of lithium and cobalt and, in 1985, the third major innovation appeared. Akira Yoshino was the father of the first marketable rechargeable lithium-ion battery (LIB), which the Japanese company Sony launched in 1991.
The importance of this technology for the development of humanity was recognised when, in 2019, these three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for their contribution to the development of LIBs, which now allow us to charge all kinds of portable devices, as well as electric cars, and create storage solutions for renewable energy networks.
The battery’s element of choice
Thanks to the electrochemical potential of lithium, LIBs are very efficient in terms of energy storage, charging speed, lightness, size and longevity. They can store 150 w/h per kilo of battery and can be manufactured in different cell combinations and formats.
Its use in the transport sector has allowed vehicles previously fuelled by fossil fuels to be electrified, reducing their carbon footprint. And electric vehicles have another environmental and circular economy advantage over traditional petrol and Diesel vehicles: the battery elements can be recycled.
Due to the investment in this type of vehicle, the International Energy Agency estimates that in order to meet our electric mobility needs, lithium production will have to increase 40-fold by 2040.
The most sustainable refining
Considering decarbonisation targets, according to a 2021 report by the European Parliament, Europe will need access to 18 times more lithium in 2030, and 60 times more in 2050, to meet the demand for electric vehicles.
Despite the benefits of lithium, the challenge for the industry in the future is to reduce the impacts generated by its extraction and refining. Portugal is currently Europe's largest producer and was eighth globally in 2023 with 380 tonnes, while Australia, the world's largest producer, extracted 86,000 tonnes.
But Portugal has more than just deposits. It also has a green lithium refining project through Lifthium, a wholly owned subsidiary of the José de Mello Group and Bondalti. Lifthium aims to become a global benchmark in sustainable refining, producing enough lithium hydroxide to one million batteries/year for electric vehicles. In the short to medium term, the company expects to have a plant in operation, in Iberia.
Innovative production technologies – including the adoption of electrolysis, based on renewable energy – will enable an estimated reduction of more than 50% in the carbon emissions associated with lithium refining, compared to current industry standards.
