Current Challenges with LFP CAM Manufacturing

1. Complex Manufacturing: LFP CAM production is a multi-step process - 1) FePO₄ (precursor CAM or pCAM) is produced by mixing widely available FeSO₄ with H₃PO₄, generating huge amounts of Sodium Sulfate (Na₂SO₄) as a waste, 2) FePO₄ is then mixed with Li₂CO₃ to produce LiFePO₄ (LFP CAM).
2. High Production Cost: The complex and multi-step manufacturing of LFP CAM requires high CAPEX because of heavy machinery, large scale equipment and huge building footprint which still delivers a relatively low throughput. In addition, temperature levels of 800⁰C are required for 6-8 hours leading to high energy consumption.
3. Environmental Impact: Na₂SO₄ waste leads to detrimental effects on aquatic ecosystems and wildlife, soil and groundwater contamination, and corrosion issues. High solubility and chemical stability of sulfates requires expensive sulfate removal technologies. Sulfate removal processes generate secondary waste streams adding to the overall complexity and cost.

Novel CAM Technology (Venus-3 )

We have developed a novel sulfate CAM by using a priority reaction of a Li-salt with and Iron salt. The reaction solvent can be fully recycled ensuring no waste production in the manufacturing process with zero water consumption. The whole reaction takes less than an hour to complete, which leads to significant savings in both OpEx and CapEx.

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Benefits of Novel CAM Venus-3

1. Simplified Supply Chain and Manufacturing: Novel sulfate CAM does not require pCAM production, which reduces the number of manufacturing steps. Sulfate CAM can be produced using currently deployed LFP equipment with much higher throughput.
2. Lower Production Cost: $/KWh production cost can be reduced by >30% with simplified process flow, abundant raw material feed and reduction in equipment footprint.
3. Positive Environmental Impact: Sulfate CAM circular manufacturing process consumes less energy, produces zero waste, and requires zero water consumption.

Superior or Similar Performance: Sulfate CAM will have similar or better performance than LFP CAM. Due to inherent crystal chemistry sulfate CAM is a better Li-ionic conductor than LFP and increased electropositive nature of sulfate polyanion ensures that this compound has highest Li-ion intercalation voltage of any industrial CAM. Specific energy density of sulfate CAM is 589 Wh/Kg vs 583 Wh/Kg of LFP.