L&F Plus, Hyundai Steel to Cooperate on Iron Oxide Supply for LFP Cathode Materials

Developing LFP Cathode Materials Using a Precursor-Free Process

 

Kwon Hyeokwon (right), head of production technology at L&F Plus, and Lim Heejung (left), head of strategic planning at Hyundai Steel, pose for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to supply iron oxide for LFP cathode materials on the 30th of last month at Hyundai Steel's Pangyo office in Gyeonggi Province. L&F Plus

L&F Plus, a subsidiary of L&F, a company specializing in secondary battery materials, announced that it signed an MOU on October 30 at Hyundai Steel's Pangyo Office in Gyeonggi Province to cooperate on supplying iron oxide needed to manufacture lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials.

Under the agreement, the two companies will cooperate to supply iron oxide for manufacturing LFP cathode materials, and L&F Plus plans to use it to develop LFP cathode materials using a precursor-free process.

L&F Plus said, "Through this agreement, we plan to establish a foundation for securing the raw materials needed to develop next-generation precursor-free processes and strengthen the manufacturing competitiveness of LFP cathode materials."

The precursor-free process skips the iron phosphate (FP) precursor stage used in conventional LFP cathode material production. Instead, it produces LFP cathode materials by directly reacting iron oxide, a byproduct of the steel industry, with lithium and phosphate raw materials.

Through this approach, L&F Plus is working to improve manufacturing process efficiency and secure cost competitiveness, while also diversifying its existing procurement structure, which is centered on precursors.

L&F Plus is developing the technology with the goal of beginning mass production in the first quarter of 2028. It is also working to secure space within its LFP plant for future mass production.

L&F said, "Building on the technological expertise accumulated in the NCM precursor field, we plan to pursue both the development of in-house FP precursor technology and the development of next-generation precursor-free processes using iron oxide. We are expanding our efforts to secure competitiveness beyond LFP cathode material production to cover raw materials and manufacturing processes as a whole."

L&F Plus is a wholly owned subsidiary of L&F dedicated to the production and sale of LFP cathode materials. It plans to begin mass production of 30,000 tons of LFP cathode materials per year starting at the end of the third quarter of this year and supply them to multiple customers for North American energy storage systems (ESS). It plans to expand production capacity to 60,000 tons per year by the first half of 2027.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.