my country’s lithium nitrate market continues to expand, with the battery field as its emerging demand end

Lithium nitrate, with the chemical formula LiNO3, is an inorganic compound. Lithium nitrate appears as a white crystalline powder with no special odor. It is soluble in pyridine, ethanol, ammonia and water, but insoluble in hydrofluoroether. Lithium nitrate has the characteristics of easy deliquescence and strong oxidation, and is widely used in chemical industry, ceramics, metallurgy, electroplating, aerospace, batteries and other fields.

The main preparation methods of lithium nitrate include lithium carbonate conversion method and lithium hydroxide conversion method. Lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide are widely used in its production process. my country is a major producer and consumer of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide. Benefiting from the growth in downstream demand, its output continues to increase. Taking lithium carbonate as an example, according to statistics from the Lithium Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, my country’s lithium carbonate production will reach 395,000 tons in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 32.5%. However, currently, my country’s lithium carbonate market is in short supply and production cannot meet downstream production needs, which poses certain challenges to the development of the lithium nitrate industry.

Lithium nitrate has excellent performance and is used in a wide range of fields, including chemical industry, ceramics, metallurgy, electroplating, aerospace, batteries, etc. The chemical industry is the main demand side for lithium nitrate, which can be used to manufacture liquid ammonia stabilizers, chemical analysis reagents, mordants, catalysts and other products. The battery field is an emerging demand side for lithium nitrate, which can be used as an electrolyte additive to produce lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium-oxygen batteries and other products. According to the “2023-2028 China Lithium Nitrate Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center, in Driven by downstream demand, my country’s lithium nitrate market continues to expand, reaching 190 million yuan in 2022.

In recent years, Chinese enterprises and scientific research institutions have continued to increase research on the application of lithium nitrate in the battery field and have made many new developments. In February 2023, the research team of Hu Yuan, Song Lei, and Kan Yongchun of the University of Science and Technology of China successfully developed a non-combustible lithium metal battery electrolyte. This product uses lithium nitrate as the base material, which can greatly improve the performance of soft-pack lithium metal batteries. electrochemical performance and safety.

The main lithium nitrate manufacturers in my country include Sichuan South China Inorganic Salt Co., Ltd., Hubei Xinrunde Chemical Co., Ltd., Tianqi Lithium Industry Co., Ltd., Hubei Chengfeng Chemical Co., Ltd., Nanjing Qianxi New Material Technology Co., Ltd., etc. At present, my country’s lithium nitrate market is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises, and the industry concentration is low. In the future, as the level of technological innovation of local enterprises continues to improve, enterprises with high-performance lithium nitrate production capabilities will occupy a larger space in the market.

Industry analysts said that lithium nitrate is widely used in many fields. With the growth of downstream demand, the scale of my country’s lithium nitrate market continues to expand. In recent years, driven by technological innovation, the application scope of lithium nitrate has been further expanded. There are many lithium nitrate manufacturers in my country. In the future, with in-depth research and technological advancement, the concentration of my country’s lithium nitrate industry will increase.