Belgium-based chemicals company Solvay and Mexican-based chemical manufacturing company Orbia are set to create a joint venture (JV) in North America to supply critical materials to the battery market. The JV will create the region's largest polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) capacity for battery materials.   

The Solvay-Orbia JV would fill a significant supply gap in North America as the country tries to decouple its energy transition requirements from China by promoting regional production and critical material security. Both Solvay and Orbia’s fluorspar-focussed subsidiary, Koura, recently received grants from the U.S. Department of Energy to enable the North American energy transition. Solvay is the recipient of a US$178M grant to build a new PVDF facility in the USA whilst Koura is the recipient of a US$100M grant to build the first lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) manufacturing plant in the USA at the company’s existing fluorochemical production site in Louisiana.  

Suspension-grade PVDF, a thermoplastic fluoropolymer, is used as a lithium-ion binder and separator coating within lithium-ion batteries. Fluorine is the primary component of LiPF6, an electrolyte salt, that enables lithium ions to flow through the battery. Project Blue forecasts a CAGR greater than 20% over the next decade in the battery sector for fluorspar, the main fluorine source for lithium-ion batteries. Koura is currently the world’s largest fluorspar producer and a downward integrated company capable of producing a wide variety of flluoro-products.