[Field Report] "Orders Are Piling Up, So I Can't Leave Work": Following a Sweet Smell in One Corner of the Plant... Korean LFP Challenges China's Dominance

L&F Plus Factory

First Commercial Production of LFP Cathode Materials Outside China
Supply Contracts Secured with South Korea's Three Major Battery Makers
Annual Production Capacity to Double to 60,000 Tons

"Orders are piling up, so I can't leave work."

When we visited the L&F Plus plant in the Guji National Industrial Complex in Dalseong-gun, Daegu, on October 14, it was bustling with incoming orders. The plant offered a glimpse of how growing demand for energy storage systems (ESS) for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers is driving supply chain diversification in the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery materials market, which has been dominated by China.

Calcination-line equipment used for heat treatment stands in rows at the L&F Plus plant in the Guji National Industrial Complex in Dalseong-gun, Daegu. L&F

As we entered a 250-meter-long corridor, heat and a sweet smell reached our noses. The smell came from a sugar-based compound used to coat the surface of cathode materials with carbon. This process helps address LFP's weakness of low electrical conductivity and involves technology for processing raw materials into materials suitable for use in batteries.

Through the windows along the corridor, we could see a raw materials warehouse lined with large racks. It stores enough precursors, lithium, and other materials to keep the plant running for two weeks. Once a barcode is entered, the raw materials are transported along rails, precisely weighed, and fed into tanks. The system is designed to reduce the risk of material spills while keeping the mixing ratios consistent even as production increases.

Because LFP's strength lies in its price competitiveness, reducing manufacturing costs is also important. In the process of mixing raw materials with water, grinding them finely, and spraying them into 250-degree hot air to turn them into powder, heat and air are recovered and reused. This lowers production costs by reducing consumption of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which is used to remove moisture.

Next, the raw materials are heated to about 800 degrees Celsius in an 80-meter-long kiln to synthesize them, then rapidly cooled. This is a key step that determines cathode material quality. The particle size is then adjusted to meet customer requirements, and the materials are uniformly mixed in 8-ton batches. Workers also repeatedly sift out large particles and use magnetic fields to remove metallic contaminants. The key to mass production is not just the volume produced, but also ensuring consistent quality that meets customer requirements.

In the central control room (CCR), two to three workers monitored the entire plant on screens. Data is managed digitally from the input of raw materials through to product manufacturing, allowing workers to identify signs of irregularities and trace production history. The plant has a management system that enables it to identify the process and raw materials involved in a problem and respond accordingly.

These production and quality management capabilities provide the foundation for turning orders from customers seeking suppliers outside China into actual deliveries. L&F Plus is the first plant outside China to establish a commercial production system for cathode materials for LFP batteries. Its current annual production capacity is 30,000 tons, and once the ongoing expansion is complete, capacity will rise to 60,000 tons starting next year.

Supply contracts with the three major domestic battery makers have been secured. In March, L&F signed a KRW 1.6067 trillion contract to supply LFP cathode materials to Samsung SDI, and in June it signed a KRW 161.7 billion contract with SK On. On November 2, it signed a KRW 1.035 trillion contract with LG Energy Solution. This shows how the expansion of LFP businesses by South Korea's battery industry is translating into orders for materials.

The next challenge is expanding production capacity to meet rising demand. In addition to the ongoing expansion, L&F is also considering building additional production facilities on a site next to the plant.

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