So the more you know about lithium............It is your...

So the more you know about lithium............It is your money..............

3. What about hydroxide?

As mentioned, lithium hydroxide is becoming more popular than lithium carbonate, at least in terms of manufacturing electric vehicle batteries. While lithium hydroxide is more expensive, it can also be used to produce cathode material more efficiently, and is actually necessary for some types of cathodes, such as nickel–cobalt-aluminum oxide (NCA) and nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC).

As Jean Francois Magnan, technical manager for Nemaska Lithium (TSXV:NMX), once explained in an interview, “because hydroxide decomposes at a lower temperature, it accelerates the process. It uses less heat, less energy, so you produce more cathode material with less energy, and you can still use the same equipment.”

Demand for lithium production has risen significantly in recent years due to the growing electric vehicle market, and lithium hydroxide is expected to outpace lithium carbonate in terms of demand growth.

That might not sound like good news for lithium carbonate, but as explained above, the material still has plenty of uses beyond batteries. And since it’s still a precursor to lithium hydroxide in most cases, lithium carbonate could still have a place in the lithium-ion battery supply chain moving forward.

This is an updated version of an article originally published by the Investing News Network in 2015.

https://investingnews.com/daily/res...-carbonate-lithium-hydroxide-nemaska-lithium/