At a glance
Key Challenge
The client's entire commercial positioning rested on a zero-carbon lithium claim, and a claim of that weight needs independent, defensible evidence behind it. Investors, offtakers and lenders all wanted quantified proof rather than marketing language, and no published LCA existed for lithium hydroxide produced via this geothermal route. The client needed a credible, third-party footprint it could put in front of capital markets and battery customers.
Solution
Minviro conducted a cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment of the client's lithium hydroxide monohydrate production, modelling global warming potential alongside acidification, eutrophication, water use and land use. The assessment used project and process data at feasibility-study level and covered Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Because the geothermal process co-produces renewable energy and excludes fossil fuels from the lithium conversion step, the model captured the carbon benefit of that integrated design.
Results
The assessment quantified a markedly lower carbon footprint than conventional lithium production routes, the result of pairing lithium extraction with co-produced geothermal renewable energy and excluding fossil fuels from the conversion process. As the first published life cycle assessment of lithium hydroxide monohydrate production, it gave the client a genuine first-mover credential. The footprint now underpins its investor reporting, offtake conversations and regulatory positioning ahead of EU Battery Regulation requirements.
Pairing lithium extraction with co-produced geothermal renewable energy, and excluding fossil fuels from the conversion step, drove the result.
The footprint now supports the client's investor relations, offtake agreements and EU Battery Regulation readiness.
Our collaboration
