Vulcan Energy Starts Making Its Own Lithium Adsorbent, Opening a Licensing Avenue Beyond Lionheart

Vulcan Energy begins commercial VULSORB adsorbent production in Germany, targeting up to 95% lithium extraction efficiency and licensing via VULTEC.

Vulcan Energy has begun commercial production of VULSORB, its proprietary adsorbent for direct lithium extraction, in Germany — a step that does double duty as a supply-chain hedge and the seed of a potential licensing business.

The material is manufactured entirely through a European supply chain and rests on Western intellectual property, according to the company. Production is to run at full scale over the next 24 months.

A Western answer to export controls

The strategic logic reaches past Vulcan's own operations. China imposed export controls on adsorbents and extraction technologies for direct lithium extraction (A-DLE) in early 2025, complicating access to established processing methods for mining and brine projects worldwide. VULSORB, built on an aluminate base, is billed by the company as achieving lithium extraction efficiency of up to 95 percent, and Vulcan positions itself as one of the few Western suppliers with an industrially viable, financeable alternative outside the Chinese market.

Commercializing the adsorbent is not confined to Vulcan's own wells. Through its VULTEC technology arm, the company intends to selectively license the material to international operators of lithium brine projects — a potential revenue stream that sits apart from its core ventures in the Upper Rhine Valley.

Lionheart groundwork and the Ludwig blueprint

For the flagship Lionheart project, targeted for commissioning in the second half of 2028, VULSORB is the process-technology centerpiece. By standing up its own production chain, Vulcan is demonstrating that the technology works at industrial scale before extraction itself begins.

Regulatory and planning work has advanced in parallel. Roughly two weeks ago the company secured its second Lionheart production license, Ilka, for the thermal brine field at Landau; that permit is set to convert after a six-year term into an authorization valid for more than 30 years. On September 2, Vulcan also presented a preliminary feasibility study for its follow-on Ludwig project near Ludwigshafen. The integrated development carries estimated construction costs of EUR 1.26 billion and is designed to deliver 21,100 tonnes of battery-grade lithium carbonate and 3,125 gigawatt-hours of renewable heat annually across a 30-year operating life. A final investment decision on Ludwig is not expected until Lionheart has started up successfully.

Board reshuffle as shares stay subdued

Management was reorganized about a week ago: Angus Barker took over as independent non-executive chair, while company founder Dr. Francis Wedin moved into a pure founder role, focusing on project development and the VULTEC technology unit under Managing Director Cris Moreno.

The equity has taken little encouragement from the operational milestones. In today's trading the stock added 0.6 percent to EUR 1.38, leaving it just 2.0 percent above its 52-week low of EUR 1.35. Since the start of the year the shares are down 46 percent, and at a market capitalization of EUR 660.73 million the developer remains valued well below the estimated construction costs of its next expansion stages. Whether the VULSORB progress can durably halt that downtrend now rests heavily on how the timeline to the planned 2028 start-up unfolds.