The oil major wants to become one of the world’s top producers of the battery metal.
ExxonMobil has a long history of developing innovative products for the auto industry – from fuels to lubes to advanced plastics. Now the company is adding a new one: lithium.
What is lithium? It’s a key component of electric vehicle batteries. To meet projected growth in EVs, the world will need a lot more lithium. ExxonMobil plans to become a leading supplier of lithium, using a modern process that has significantly less environmental impact than traditional mining.
The company also has a deep connection to battery technology. Dr. M. Stanley Whittingham led the company’s research that resulted in the world’s first lithium-ion battery. In 2019, he won a Nobel Prize for his work.
Southwest Arkansas has a long history as an oil and gas producer. But deep underground is another valuable resource: saltwater brine, rich in lithium. ExxonMobil can safely produce this lithium using many of the skills the company has honed over decades, including geoscience, reservoir engineering and chemical processing.
ExxonMobil plans to decide by the end of the year which lithium filtration technology it will use in Arkansas. The plan will require a complex mix of equipment, including at least one of a so-far unproven fleet of direct lithium extraction technologies to filter the metal from the brine. Exxon has built a pilot plant in Houston and spent recent months testing various DLE technologies, producing small amounts of battery-grade lithium, Reuters reported.
The company’s lithium will strengthen supply security for the companies investing in EV and battery manufacturing facilities in North America. The product will be branded as Mobil Lithium, building on the rich history of deep technical partnership between Mobil and the automotive industry.
ExxonMobil has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with SK On, a global leading electric vehicle battery developer, that opens the door to secure a multiyear offtake agreement of up to 100,000 metric tons of Mobil Lithium from the company’s first planned project in Arkansas.
SK On plans to use the lithium in its EV battery manufacturing operations in the United States. This will contribute to ExxonMobil’s goal, announced in late 2023, of supplying lithium for about 1 million EV batteries annually by 2030 and support the build out of a U.S. EV supply chain.
Demand for lithium is forecasted to grow sharply in coming years, as it is an essential component for EVs, consumer electronics, energy storage systems, and other clean energy technologies. The planned project will extract lithium from underground saltwater deposits and convert it into battery-grade material onsite in Arkansas. This approach aims to produce lithium more efficiently and with fewer environmental impacts than traditional hard rock mining.
“The world needs more lithium to support its emissions goals, and we’re doing our part to drive solutions forward in the United States,” said Dan Ammann, President of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “This collaboration with SK On demonstrates the leading role we play in the growing market for domestically sourced lithium, a market that’s advancing energy security and climate objectives, as well as supporting American manufacturing.”
Planned production of Mobil Lithium will use ExxonMobil’s core capabilities in subsurface exploration, drilling, and chemical processing, offering U.S. EV battery manufacturers a more secure, lower-carbon lithium supply option. Through the appraisal drilling program and technology pilot using Direct Lithium Extraction technology, ExxonMobil has successfully produced lithium carbonate from the Smackover formation in southern Arkansas.
In the U.S., SK On currently operates two battery plants in Commerce, Georgia, and is building four more plants through joint ventures with Ford Motor Co. and Hyundai Motor Group. After 2025, the annual production capacity of SK On in the U.S. alone is expected to reach more than 180 GWh, which is enough to power about 1.7 million EVs a year.
“SK On has been working with global partners to secure key battery raw materials in a move to support our growing U.S. manufacturing base and lead electrification in the region,” said Park Jong-jin, Executive Vice President of Strategic Procurement at SK On. “Through this partnership with ExxonMobil, we will continue strengthening battery supply chains in the U.S.”
The company is targeting its first lithium production for 2027 and is evaluating growth opportunities globally. By 2030, ExxonMobil aims to be producing enough lithium to supply the manufacturing needs of well over a million EVs per year.
From 2021 to 2030 lithium-ion batteries’ global production is expected to grow by 5x to 5,500 GWh, with EV batteries making up nearly 80% of all lithium-ion batteries produced.
This rapid growth is creating opportunities and challenges for the complete supply chain, from raw material suppliers to EV battery manufacturers and recyclers. There are significant market pressures to increase production capacities, streamline logistics and optimize costs of critical raw materials such as Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese in order to serve the developing global EV market.
ExxonMobil can support raw material suppliers, EV battery manufacturers and recyclers in their efforts to produce, recover and recycle Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel and Manganese via solvent extraction processes.
Solvent extraction battery recycling can enable +90% recovery of the rare metals at +95% purity with cost-effective capital investments, high material selectivity, low energy consumption and without toxic fumes when compared to other recovery processes.
/ExxonMobil, Reuters/