Bilfinger & Rock Tech Lithium partner on Europe's first lithium refinery

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Industrial services provider Bilfinger and clean-tech company Rock Tech Lithium have teamed up in a bid to construct Europe's first lithium hydroxide converter.

The plant will be built in Guben, Germany, and when completed will produce 24,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide annually - enough for around 500,000 electric car batteries.

Read more: Plans laid for UK's first lithium refinery

Currently, at the advanced planning stage, Bilfinger will provide engineering and procurement services as well as construction management for the Rock Tech project.

Lithium hydroxide is an essential ingredient of electric vehicle batteries and will be more and more necessary as the continent moves towards its net-zero by 2050 target.

Rock Tech first announced the project last October as part of its overarching goal to produce lithium hydroxide over the entire value chain in a way that it says will have the "lowest possible impact on the environment".

The company said in a statement that this will be achieved through the zero-waste strategy that it developed alongside the German Lithium Institute ITEL, which relies heavily on the recycling of the byproducts created by the production of lithium hydroxide.

The goal is also to recycle the lithium itself at a later stage.

Christina Johansson, Interim CEO and CFO of Bilfinger, said: "The production of lithium hydroxide as a component of electric car batteries is essential for a climate-friendly mobility transition. The concept developed by Rock Tech Lithium for the construction of the lithium refining plant is innovative and technologically convincing. We look forward to helping shape the further steps towards the implementation of the project."

Read more: France's €1bn plan to secure battery metals

Markus Brügmann, CEO of Rock Tech Lithium, said: "The cooperation is another significant milestone for Rock Tech Lithium on its way to becoming a leading clean-tech company supplying the automotive industry with high purity lithium hydroxide.

"Together with Bilfinger, we want to drive the battery era forward," he added.

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