In the battery manufacturing industry, caustic soda pearl, also known as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), plays a crucial role in enhancing production processes and improving battery performance.
Can caustic soda be used to make lithium batteries?
To help support the effort to provide lithium battery alternatives — and by extension support the energy transition — companies like Hanwha are working to ramp up the production of the materials, like caustic soda, required in the manufacture of both lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries.
As its use in battery production, recycling, and recovery grows, demand will continue to intensify, with battery recycling in particular projected to balloon as a global market from $8 billion in 2022 to $200 billion by 2040. To meet this present and future demand, the industry must step up caustic soda production.
Are sodium batteries a good alternative to lithium hydroxide?
One promising technology is sodium batteries, which use sodium hydroxide, or caustic soda, as their precursor rather than lithium hydroxide. Caustic soda is a highly versatile material used to manufacture a wide variety of products including paper, textiles, detergents, metals, and even lithium batteries.
Quantitative analysis showed that the quantity and concentration of caustic soda produced varied with the current and voltage obtained from the solar panels which were dependent upon the intensity of the sun on any particular day and the length of time the panels were exposed to sunlight.
Can a company produce caustic soda without relying on minerals?
Thankfully, unlike lithium, this is something companies can do without dependence on critical minerals. Hanwha Solutions Chemical Division — South Korea's largest producer of caustic soda — is expanding its facilities to produce 1.11 million tons annually by the end of 2024.
Hanwha is currently the top domestic producer of caustic soda producing 840,000 tons per year. However, Hanwha Solutions plans to increase this number upping its annual caustic soda production volume to 1.11 million tons by 2025. Hanwha offers many excellent solutions for the next step in secondary battery production – assembly.