Vulcan starts construction of downstream processing plant for geothermal lithium project

Groundbreaking ceremony for Vulcan Energy's central lithium chemical plant in Frankfurt, Germany (source: Vulcan Energy)

Carlo Cariaga 5 May 2026

Vulcan Energy (Vulcan)  has announced the start of major construction works at their central lithium chemical plant at Infraserv Industrial Park Höchst in Frankfurt, Germany. The downstream central lithium chemicals plant will be used for the conversion of lithium chloride, extracted from geothermal brine, into lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM) through electrolysis.

The downstream central lithium chemicals plant is part of Vulcan’s Lionheart project, which envisions a production capacity of 24,000 tonnes of LHM annually, equivalent to 500,000 electrical vehicle batteries, and co-production of 275 GWh of renewable power and 560 GWh of heat per annum over an estimated 30-year project life.

At Lionheart, lithium is to be extracted from low impurity geothermal sub-surface brines using Vulcan’s adsorption type direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology. Naturally heated, the brine powers production and conversion of lithium to battery-quality material by creating a renewable energy co-product for use in operations, with surplus sold into the local energy market. The two-step process starts with lithium extraction and is followed by downstream processing of the lithium using electrolysis at its central lithium processing plant.

The Company is in receipt of all regulatory construction related approvals for its central lithium chemicals plant and the groundbreaking event now marks the transition from preparatory works to full scale construction activities in the downstream as well as upstream components of Lionheart.

“We are delighted to move beyond preparatory works and start full scale construction at our commercial lithium chemical plant. This groundbreaking event follows a similar ceremony held at our upstream lithium extraction plant in Landau late last year and highlights the progress towards our construction schedule and our 2028 commercial start of production target. We are grateful to all our stakeholders who joined us for the event and are working with Vulcan to bring Lionheart to life,” said Cris Moreno, Managing Director and CEO of Vulcan.

The Company secured its €2.2bn ($3.9bn) funding package in December 2025 and made its positive Final Investment Decision on Lionheart. Located in the Upper Rhine Valley Brine Field between Germany and France, Lionheart is targeted to be the first of many phases of production for Vulcan and is a lighthouse project for Europe’s energy and critical raw material resilience.

Source: Email correspondence