Two CATL projects break ground in Kaiyang

A groundbreaking ceremony for a lithium bisfluorosulfonimide plant is held in Kaiyang county on Dec 24. [Photo/Kaiyang Release]

A project new plant with an annual production capacity of 50,000 metric tons of lithium bisfluorosulfonimide broke ground on Dec 24 in Kaiyang county in Guiyang, capital city of Southwest China's Guizhou province.

Lithium bisfluorosulfonimide is commonly used as a source in electrolytes for ion batteries as a safer alternative to commonly used lithium hexafluorophosphate.

The plant is being funded by Guizhou Shidai Sikang New Material Co, a subsidiary of Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd, or CATL, and will cover a total area of 780 mu (52 hectares).

Construction of the project will be divided into two phases.

Wang Qiyun, Party secretary of Kaiyang county, delivers a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony on Dec 24. [Photo/Kaiyang Release]

The first phase is reportedly currently smoothly under way and will have an annual production of 20,000 tons of lithium bisfluorosulfonimide when in operation.

The same day, another lithium hexafluorophosphate project, jointly invested by CATL and Guiyang-based Guizhou Phosphate Chemical Group, began construction in Kaiyang county.

In recent years, tapping into its phosphate rock resources and relying on the important raw materials foundation of the chemical industry, Kaiyang county has been on the move. It has focused on building a modern industrial system, with new energy battery materials as the main production chain and high-end phosphate fertilizers, fine phosphorus chemicals, aluminum and aluminum processing as the auxiliary chains.

Kaiyang county is nowadays reportedly making every effort to build itself into "the Capital of Energy Storage of China".

The construction is being divided into two phases. [Photo/Kaiyang Release]