Energy For
The Future

SolarBio Energy are experts in Solar Energy, Lithium and various chemicals used in the energy process. One of the fastest-growing areas in the speciality chemicals business is aimed towards solar and clean energy. SolarBio Energy is able to execute an ambitious growth strategy because of its unique natural resource position, derivatization capabilities, and technological leadership.

We manage a varied and high-quality network of natural resources that are strategically located in low-risk areas with well-developed infrastructure. Our operations' size allow us to take advantage of favorable economies of scale.

From raw material extraction through specialist product manufacturing, we have the strongest vertical position in the business. Our process technology expertise is deep and diverse, and it has increased in scale as a result of our recent acquisitions.

We are the most stable and sustainable supply network in the market because of our unparalleled presence and enormous manufacturing capacity, which is currently expanding. We offer the most affordable lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide while maintaining the greatest quality. Because our unique position is difficult to copy and took a century to create, we can maintain the SolarBio Energy advantage.

What is Lithium

Lithium is one of Earth’s most widespread elements. The metal is found just about everywhere, even in small traces in drinking water. It’s a key element in the batteries that experts say could guide us to zero-emission electricity and transportation. That is, if it can be mined fast enough.

How is Silica Mined

In almost all cases, silica mining uses open pit or dredging mining methods with standard mining equipment. Except for temporarily disturbing the immediate area while mining operations are active, sand and gravel mining usually has limited environmental impact.

Also called silica sand or quartz sand, silica is silicon dioxide (SiO2). Silicon compounds are the most significant component of the Earth’s crust. Since sand is plentiful, easy to mine and relatively easy to process, it is the primary ore source of silicon.

Silicon (Si) is a semi-metallic or metalloid, because it has several of the metallic characteristics. Silicon is never found in its natural state, but rather in combination with oxygen as the silicate ion SiO44- in silica-rich rocks such as obsidian, granite, diorite, and sandstone. Feldspar and quartz are the most significant silicate minerals. Silicon alloys include a variety of metals, including iron, aluminum, copper, nickel, manganese and ferrochromium.

In almost all cases, silica mining uses open pit or dredging mining methods with standard mining equipment. Except for temporarily disturbing the immediate area while mining operations are active, sand and gravel mining usually has limited environmental impact.

The chemical properties of silicon have some special characteristics, especially the crystalline form of the semiconductor. Besides, the principal design parameters for solar cell manufacturing are bandgap energy and minority carrier diffusion. So, the objective of a solar panel is to absorb light with the semiconductor, which is the reason for using silicon.

Let’s understand the matter. Silicon is one of the highest quality semiconductors that is ideal for solar cell production.

The superior quality of silicon’s electronic, optical, thermal, and environmental properties are best for producing solar cells. Also, the availability and affordability make it more usable for solar panels.

The process begins by drilling down through the crust and then pumping the brine up to the surface into evaporation pools, where it is left for months at a time. This creates a salty mud comprised of a mixture of manganese, potassium, borax and lithium salts, which are then moved to another open-air evaporation pool. Most of the world’s lithium is extracted from a mineral-rich brine around ten metres beneath the briny lakes of high-altitude salt flats.

After 12-18 months, the mixture is sufficiently distilled to extract the lithium carbonate, the main raw material used in lithium ion batteries. This method of extraction is commonly used in the so-called ‘Lithium Triangle’ that straddles Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. This method is favourable due to its low cost and effectiveness in extracting lithium carbonate. However, the process is extremely water intensive.

Lithium is a highly reactive alkali metal that offers excellent heat and electrical conductivity. These properties make it particularly useful for the manufacture of glass, high-temperature lubricants, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and lithium ion batteries for electric cars and consumer electronics. However, because of its high reactivity, pure elemental lithium is not found in nature but is instead present as a constituent of salts or other compounds.

When salt lake or salar brines are used to recover lithium, solar evaporation is commonly used to concentrate lithium and precipitate salts of major elements such as K, Na, Mg, Ca, etc. Leach liquors or concentrated brines are then further treated using precipitation, ion exchange, etc., to remove residual contaminants.

These products usually are of battery grade (99.5% purity) and could be further processed to produce high purity compounds (99.9%) by redissolution, ion exchange, and reprecipitation steps. Salar brines are currently used as dominant feedstock for the production of lithium compounds around the world principally due to low operation cost and high reserves as compared to those from mineral sources.

Carbonation using soda ash or carbon dioxide is preferred to precipitate lithium carbonate as the final product whereas lithium hydroxide is frequently recovered via electrodialysis and crystallization.

Most storage systems currently in operation around the world use lithium batteries. The world of lithium batteries features a diverse group of technologies that all store energy by using lithium ions, particles with a free positive charge that can easily react with other elements

The charging and discharging of lithium batteries, which are made up of a positive electrode (lithium cathode) and a negative electrode (carbon anode), happens through chemical reactions that allow energy, in this case generated by renewable plants, to be accumulated and restored.

Lithium batteries have very interesting technological features for energy purposes, including modularity, high energy density and high charging and discharging efficiency, which can exceed 90% on a singular module level.

We are the most stable and sustainable supply network in the market because of our unparalleled presence and enormous manufacturing capacity, which is currently expanding. We offer the most affordable lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide while maintaining the greatest quality. Because our unique position is difficult to copy and took a century to create, we can maintain the SolarBio Energy advantage.

Two factors determine the price of lithium, and first we need to consider abundance. There’s only as limited supply of this element, because it only makes up 0.0007 percent of the Earth’s crust. Chile produces most of the element for the world market, with Australia coming in second. In the US you can only find a single mine in the whole country. It doesn’t occur naturally in elemental form, either.

What these things all mean is that the demand for lithium-ion batteries will rise even further. The price of lithium carbonate is up by 47% from 2015 and the year 2017 will see increased sales of pure electric cars. Add the fact that Li-ion batteries are also used for mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other wearable devices, and the demand for the commodity will surely increase as well.