Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizen for the clue delivery of rain and snow! Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Texas Governor Greg Abott laid the foundation for the company's lithium refinery in Corpus Christi on Monday morning.

Tesla plans to invest $375 million to build the plant on the Gulf Coast to help secure lithium hydroxide supplies in the United States. Lithium hydroxide is an important raw material for the production of electric vehicle power batteries and household and utility grade energy storage batteries.

Musk said Tesla plans to produce enough battery-grade lithium at the plant to supply the capacity of 1 million electric vehicles a year and hopes its lithium production will exceed the combined capacity of other refineries in North America.

Mining company Albemarle announced in March that it would invest $1.3 billion to build a new lithium processing plant in South Carolina.

According to documents received by the Texas Auditor General's Office, Tesla plans to build a "battery-grade lithium hydroxide refining plant" in the state, as well as other "facilities to support the processing, refining and manufacturing of other types of battery materials and auxiliary manufacturing operations to support Tesla's sustainable product line."

The company promises in its filing that "Tesla will use innovative processes compared to traditional processes and aim to consume fewer hazardous reagents and produce usable byproducts." "

Musk claimed on Monday that the refinery "doesn't emit toxic substances or anything else, and you can live in the refinery without any adverse effects." "

Turner Caldwell, head of Tesla's battery raw materials and recycling business, said at Monday's groundbreaking ceremony that the company would look for "beneficial use opportunities" for lithium byproducts, which are expected to be dominated by sand and limestone.

Typically, refining ore into battery-grade lithium involves grinding the raw material into powder, heating it at high temperatures, and mixing it with acid in suspension. Hydrochloric acid is an acid commonly used in lithium processing. According to the Clean Air Act, hydrochloric acid is a dangerous air pollutant.

Neither Caldwell nor Musk disclosed specific chemicals the company would use in the treatment.

Musk said last April that Tesla may need to enter the lithium refining industry because the cost of the metal is "crazy." But lithium prices have fallen sharply since his comments.

However, the United States accounts for only 1% of global lithium processing and refining capacity. Musk said the supply of battery-grade lithium was a "fundamental bottleneck" for electric vehicles and other industries.

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