Argentina’s first national plant for the technological development of lithium cells and batteries is set to begin operations in the first quarter of 2023.
Called UniLib, the plant has been constructed by Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP), YPF-Tecnología (Y-TEC) and the national council for scientific and technical research (CONICET), with the support of the science, technology and innovation ministry.
The Bnamericas website reported the facility has had investment of $7 million and will have annual production capacity of 13MWh of energy storage, the equivalent of 1,000 stationary energy storage batteries.
UniLib will also promote technology transfer with local companies that are interested in manufacturing lithium batteries.
Equipment for the plant arrived at the end of December from China: including mixers, ovens, cyclers, cutters and dehumidifiers. They are being installed in the plant in the Jorge Alberto Sabato technological hub on the university campus.
According to Bnamericas, Argentina is the world’s fourth largest lithium producer, with annual output of 37,500 tons. This comes from operations at the Fénix plant owned by US firm Livent and in the Salar de Olaroz from domestic company Sales de Jujuy. It operates in a consortium with Australian miner Orocobre, Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corp and provincial-owned company Jemse.
Y-TEC’s president Roberto Salvarezza, said in a statement: “We’ve achieved a very important milestone with the arrival of the equipment. We’re moving in the right direction to have this plant ready, the first of its kind in Latin America … We’re taking another key step to consolidate the lithium value chain in our country.”
