(ICIS) -- Germany's Sud-Chemie and South Korea's LG Chem announced on Tuesday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to jointly build a lithium iron phosphate plant.
The plant, which will have a 2,500 tonne/year capacity, is slated for completion by end-2014, LG Chem said in a separate statement.
"The new plant specific location is still not finalised, but it will be in South Korea," said LG Chem spokesperson Louie Chung.
The new plant will incorporate the South Korean firm's processing technology and Sud-Chemie's manufacturing technology, the chemicals companies said in a joint statement.
Financial details of the investment were not disclosed.
The joint venture will also involve development of other advance olivine structure materials such as lithium manganese iron phosphate in the later stage, LG Chem said.
Lithium iron phosphate is a cathode material used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries.
"With LG as a partner, LFP lithium iron phosphate will establish itself as a storage material for large high-performance batteries," said Sud-Chemie chairman Gunter von Au in the joint statement.
In the same statement, LG Chem vice chairman and CEO Peter Bahnsuk Kim said: "It [joint venture] enables us to have strong competitiveness in the field of rapidly growing high capacity lithium-ion battery for Energy Storage System (ESS) and in vehicle applications."