Lithium geochemical traceability: development of a multi-criteria approach using on-site and laboratory technologies for the implementation of a battery digital product passeport

Transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies is key to reduce human CO2 emissions, in order to cope global warming. As well as the need of technological progress, this raise the needs for metal resources. Some commodities are likely to experience very strong growth of their demand over the coming decades such as Lithium (Li), Aluminum (Al), Cobalt (Co), Nickel (Ni), Copper (Cu), and Rare Earth Elements (“REE”), due to their uses in “green” energy technologies.

The EU-funded “MADITRACE” project aim for the development of traceability methods and certification systems for four critical raw material (CMR): lithium, graphite, cobalt and REEs, in order to integrate sustainable provenance of materials into a Digital Product Passport (DPP) for batteries and vehicles. In the particular case of lithium, a previous study has shown that the deposit type -‘Hard rock’ or Salar- origin of a lithium material can be tracked through the supply chain up to the battery using lithium isotopic analysis¹. Nevertheless, some processes can affect this signature. In addition, these analyses requires high-cost instruments and are time-consuming. In order to verify in the future the provenance of a batch of raw material, traceability tools must be resilient to processes and mixing. They should also be more democratized and faster to set-up.

In this regard, the project focuses on the development of the combination of rapid and easy-to-use on-site analysis for routine screening as well as laboratory verification in case of anomalies during the provenance verification of a lithium product. This relies on conventional geo-physico-chemical analysis such as mineralogy, major and trace element compositions, as well as isotopic analysis. The methods investigated includes hyperspectral spectroscopy, IR spectroscopy, LUXREM (XRF-XRD coupling, in development) as well as conventional X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), (Laser Ablation) Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry ((LA)-QQQ-ICP-MS), (Laser Ablation)  Multi-Collector Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry ((LA)-MC-ICP-MS) and Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS).

 

• Desaulty, A. M. et al. Tracing the origin of lithium in Li-ion batteries using lithium isotopes. Nat Commun 13, (2022).