The LEOP is located right at the Landau geothermal power plant. This power plant is currently not operational, but Vulcan states that this is not a problem. The natural pressure of geothermal fluids in Landau will be sufficient for “lower flow rates” operation. Another option is to transport geothermal brine by truck from the company’s geothermal power plant in Insheim.
Vulcan holds several geothermal exploration licenses on the German side of the Upper Rhine Valley, and has expanded into Alsace in France. The goal of the company is to use the geothermal resources in the Upper Rhine Valley to extract CO2-neutral lithium. Vulcan has binding lithium hydroxide offtake agreements with Stellantis, Volkswagen, Renault, LG Energy Solution, and Umicore.
The lithium chloride that will be produced in the current optimization facility will be transported to Vulcan’s central lithium electrolysis optimization plant (CLEOP) in Frankfurt-Höchst. There, it will be converted to lithium hydroxide monohydrate which will then be tested by Vulcan partners such as Stellantis, Renault, and Volkswagen.
