Minerals firm ICL To Invest $400 Million in Lithium Battery Materials Facility in US

Global minerals conglomerate ICL has announced that it plans to build a $400 million lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode active material (CAM) manufacturing plant in St. Louis, USA. ICL held that this is expected to be the first large-scale LFP material manufacturing plant in the United States.

ICL was awarded $197 million through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding. The plant is expected to be operational by 2024 and will produce high-quality LFP material for the global lithium battery industry, using primarily a domestic supply chain. As per ICL, the LFP plant represents a significant expansion of its energy storage portfolio and demonstrates the company’s commitment to developing high-quality specialty products for agricultural, food and industrial applications.

Phil Brown, MD, North America for ICL, stated, “The $197 million investment from the Department of Energy is crucial to building a domestic manufacturer, which can compete globally while providing a much-needed safety net for American manufacturers in the EV, battery and energy-storage industries.”

The company informed that the 120,000-square-foot LFP plant is expected to have two production lines built in two phases under a single roof. Each production line will be capable of producing 15,000 metric tons of LFP material annually. Phase-I is expected to be complete by 2024, and full production of 30,000 metric tons is expected by 2025. The new plant will be located on ICL’s existing Carondelet campus in St. Louis.

ICL partners for the project will include Aleees, which will provide LFP process technology, and McCarthy, which will oversee the management of general contracting and is also based in St. Louis. The local community will benefit through more than 150 high-paying union and professional jobs.

ICL mentioned that while the demand for lithium batteries continues to grow, currently there are no large-scale manufacturers of LFP material in the US. By 2025, the share of LFP batteries is expected to reach more than 30% of all battery shipments. Electric vehicle (EV) adoption is a key driver for the LFP battery market along with stationary grid storage and EV charging infrastructure.