Lithium chloride has broad prospects and high market concentration

Lithium chloride is an inorganic substance with a molecular formula of LiCl and a molecular weight of 42.39. Lithium chloride is a white crystal that is deliquescent and easily soluble in water, ethanol, acetone, pyridine and other organic solvents. Lithium chloride is of low toxicity, but has strong irritating and corrosive effects on the eyes and mucous membranes.

The main production methods of lithium chloride are: (1) Reaction of lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide with hydrochloric acid; (2) Dispersing lithium hydroxide in water and countercurrently flowing chlorine to circulate it; (3) Using spodumene as raw material and high temperature Calcined, and then reacted with molten potassium chloride at a temperature of 100°C for ion exchange. Lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid are the mainstream production processes on the market.

Lithium chloride is a basic lithium product. Its main use is electrolytic preparation of metallic lithium. It can also be used in the field of air conditioning as flux, desiccant, and chemical reagent. Lithium metal downstream of lithium chloride is mainly used in solid-state batteries, metallurgy, medicine, aerospace and other fields. Among them, all-solid-state metal lithium batteries have the characteristics of high energy density, high safety and long cycle life. Their energy density can reach several times that of existing lithium batteries. They have great application value in the field of new energy vehicles and have been favored in recent years. More and more new energy vehicle manufacturers are favoring it.

With the continuous growth of demand for metallic lithium, domestic lithium chloride production has grown rapidly. According to the “2022-2026 Lithium Chloride Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report released by the Industrial Research Center, in 2021 China’s lithium chloride production reached 33,100 tons in 2018. The scale of domestic lithium chloride import and export is relatively small, with import volume in 2021 being 214 tons and export volume being 457 tons.

Industry analysts said that the lithium chloride industry has high barriers, there are not many domestic companies, and the market concentration is high, among which the largest ones are The companies include Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Industry Co., Ltd., Tianqi Lithium Industry Co., Ltd., Qinghai Qaidam Xinghua Lithium Salt Co., Ltd., Shengxin Lithium Energy Group Co., Ltd., Jiangsu Changjili New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (Zhejiang A subsidiary of Tiantie Co., Ltd.) and others, the total market share of the five companies is 65.6%.