As the global energy transition continues to accelerate, energy storage has evolved from a supporting industry into the primary driver of growth in lithium resource demand. This shift has broken the lithium industry's long-standing reliance on the electric vehicle sector as its sole demand source. With power batteries providing a stable foundation and energy storage installations expanding rapidly, a new cycle of lithium supply and demand is taking shape. Against the backdrop of tightening geopolitical controls over resource access and the varying quality of salt-lake resources, BICHEM has successfully industrialized diversified lithium extraction technologies for salt lakes. By addressing lithium supply bottlenecks at the resource level and leveraging hands-on experience from frontline projects to provide forward-looking industry insights, BICHEM has become a key technological force connecting the growing demand for energy storage with the development of lithium resources.
On the demand side, the commercialization of energy storage markets is accelerating globally. In China, the implementation of capacity pricing mechanisms, mandatory energy storage requirements for wind and solar projects, and the large-scale launch of commercial and industrial peak-valley arbitrage projects are driving growth. Meanwhile, Europe, North America, and the Lithium Triangle region in Latin America are seeing a surge in tenders for large-scale standalone energy storage power stations.Global energy storage installations are projected to maintain a year-on-year growth rate of over 50% through 2026. Lithium consumption for energy storage applications is expected to account for more than 30% of total lithium demand. Moreover, lithium usage per megawatt-hour of an energy storage system is significantly higher than that of passenger electric vehicles, which constitutesa strong and sustained source of demand that supports the baseline consumption of lithium carbonate. The steady penetration of electric vehicles continues to provide a solid foundation for lithium demand. However, the industry’s growth focus has shifted decisively toward energy storage. The widespread adoption of large-format, long-cycle energy storage cells is driving higher purity requirements for upstream lithium salts. As a result, the share of battery-grade lithium carbonate in overall demand continues to rise, placing increasingly stringent requirements on the purification efficiency and product quality of lithium extraction technologies from salt lakes.
On the supply side, constraints on global lithium resources are becoming increasingly pronounced. Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia have tightened approval processes for domestic salt-lake development and imposed stricter policies on the export of raw brine. In Australia, the commissioning of new hard-rock lithium mining projects has faced delays. Meanwhile, in China, lithium recovery from high magnesium-to-lithium ratio brines and residual lithium contained in lithium precipitation mother liquor has long remained inefficient. Traditional solar evaporation processes suffer from relatively low recovery rates and high water consumption, making them ill-suited to meet the surge in demand driven by the rapid expansion of energy storage. As a result, the lithium industry is gradually shifting from a phase of temporary oversupply to a structurally tight supply-demand balance. Amid this backdrop, BICHEM has focused on independently developing and industrializing a comprehensive suite of brine-based lithium extraction technologies with three core processes: solvent extraction, membrane extraction, and adsorption coupled with membrane separation. These processes are specifically designed to address the challenges associated with high magnesium-to-lithium ratio brines and the recovery of residual lithium from lithium precipitation mother liquor.Among them, BICHEM’s selective solvent extraction technology achieves a comprehensive lithium yield rate of more than 95%, while its membrane extraction process reduces water consumption by approximately 60% compared with conventional methods. These technologies can be adapted to a wide range of resource conditions, including South American salt lakes and high-impurity brines in Qinghai, China. They enable the direct production of battery-grade lithium products from raw brine while also facilitating the recovery and utilization of residual lithium resources from mother liquor streams, unlocking the value of existing lithium resources and effectively alleviating supply-side constraints.
Drawing on extensive experience from projects around the world, BICHEM has identified several key industry trends: First of all, long-term demand for energy storage remains highly certain. Short-term fluctuations in lithium prices are unlikely to alter the pace of energy storage project deployment. The acceptable lithium carbonate price range for energy storage projects has risen, and the industry is expected to remain in a state of tight supply-demand balance for the foreseeable future.Second, lithium extraction from salt lakes will become the primary path for future lithium supply expansion. Conventional precipitation is severely constrained by resource characteristics and technical limitations. Emerging technologies such as green solvent extraction and membrane separation are expected to become the dominant approaches for salt-lake development, particularly, since recovery and utilization of low-grade brines and residual lithium from mother liquor streams representing critical opportunities for reducing costs and improving efficiency across the industry.Third, as energy storage cells evolve toward higher purity standards and longer service lives, competition in upstream lithium refining technologies will intensify. Integrated lithium extraction solutions that combine low operating costs, high yield rates, and strong environmental performance are expected to gain a leading position in global salt-lake project tenders.
Looking ahead, the mutually reinforcing relationship between the energy storage and lithium industries will remain intact. Continued growth in energy storage installations will steadily increase lithium demand, while ongoing advancements in lithium extraction technologies will lower lithium salt production costs, further reducing the levelized cost of energy storage. In the following three to five years, global salt-lake development sector is expected to enter a major technology replacement cycle. Leveraging its patented extraction technologies and advanced membrane separation processes, BICHEM is committed to supporting the construction and upgrading of lithium extraction projects worldwide. Through continuous innovation in lithium extraction technologies, the company aims to help bridge the gap between lithium supply and demand, support the sustainable expansion of the global energy storage industry, and contribute to the long-term healthy development of the new energy value chain.
