Manganese, Phosphorus and Fluorine — the LFP Chain

Q: What does an LFP cell actually depend on?

Purified phosphoric acid, lithium carbonate, iron sulfate, high-purity manganese sulfate for LMFP variants, and fluorine for both the electrolyte salt and the binder. None of cobalt or nickel. That is a completely different exposure profile rather than simply a cheaper one, and three of those inputs — PPA, HPMSM and fluorspar derivatives — rarely appear on critical-minerals lists at all.

Q: Why does battery-grade phosphoric acid need such extreme purity?

Because iron in the wrong place in an LFP cathode is a defect that causes self-discharge, so PPA needs iron below single-digit ppm. Wet-process acid from phosphate rock carries Fe, Al, Mg, F and heavy metals, and removing them takes solvent extraction. The process also generates phosphogypsum at five tonnes per tonne of P₂O₅ — mildly radioactive from natural uranium in the rock, and stockpiled in enormous stacks.

Q: Why is fluorspar a single point of failure for every lithium-ion cell?

Because CaF₂ plus sulfuric acid gives hydrogen fluoride, and HF gives both products a cell cannot do without: LiPF₆, the electrolyte salt, and PVDF, the cathode binder. Acid-grade fluorspar must be above 97 per cent CaF₂, China supplies roughly two-thirds of world output, and the chain is thinly covered — PVDF went through a severe shortage in 2021–22 that few had modelled, because it sits two steps outside anyone’s definition of a battery material.

Q: Manganese is abundant. Why is it on the list?

Because the ore and the battery input are different products. Manganese ore is genuinely abundant — South Africa, Gabon and Australia lead — and roughly 90 per cent of it goes into steel as ferromanganese where purity barely matters. High-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate for cathodes requires iron and heavy metals in the low ppm, and China makes almost all of it. The pattern repeats with unnerving consistency: the ore is widely distributed and cheap, the battery-grade purified form is made in one place.

If your cells are LFP, your exposure is not to cobalt or nickel. It is to purified phosphoric acid, high-purity manganese sulfate and fluorspar — three materials that rarely appear on critical-minerals lists.

Ore to Vehicle · Part 3 — The Battery Materials · Chapter 9 · 16 min read

All chapters

Purified phosphoric acidPhosphogypsumFluorspar to LiPF₆PVDFHPMSM

If your cells are LFP, then your exposure is not to cobalt or nickel. It is to purified phosphoric acid, high-purity manganese sulfate and fluorspar — three materials with their own concentrated chains that rarely appear in critical-minerals lists.

5 t

Phosphogypsum per tonne of P₂O₅

<10 ppm

Iron limit in battery-grade PPA

~2/3

China’s share of fluorspar

~95 %

Its share of high-purity Mn sulfate

9.1 — Phosphorus — from fertiliser rock to battery acid

•1 · Phosphate rock to wet-process acid. Ca₅(PO₄)₃F + 5 H₂SO₄ + 10 H₂O → 3 H₃PO₄ + 5 CaSO₄·2H₂O↓ + HF. The calcium sulfate byproduct is phosphogypsum — 5 tonnes per tonne of P₂O₅, mildly radioactive from natural uranium in the rock, and stockpiled in enormous stacks.
•2 · Purification to PPA. Solvent extraction to remove Fe, Al, Mg, F and heavy metals. Battery-grade purified phosphoric acid needs iron below single-digit ppm — iron in the wrong place in an LFP cathode is a defect that causes self-discharge.
•3 · To cathode. PPA + Li₂CO₃ + FeSO₄ → LiFePO₄ via hydrothermal or solid-state synthesis, with a carbon source.

Important

Morocco holds the majority of world phosphate rock reserves; China is the largest producer and has periodically restricted phosphate exports for domestic fertiliser security. Battery demand competes directly with food production for the same rock — a tension that has no technical resolution.

9.2 — Fluorine — fluorspar to LiPF₆ and PVDF

•1 · Fluorspar to hydrogen fluoride. CaF₂ + H₂SO₄ → 2 HF↑ + CaSO₄. Acid-grade fluorspar must be above 97 % CaF₂. China supplies roughly two-thirds of world output; Mexico, Mongolia and South Africa follow.
•2 · HF to the two products a cell needs. LiF + PF₅ → LiPF₆, the electrolyte salt. And HF → vinylidene fluoride monomer → PVDF, the cathode binder.

Technical framing

Every lithium-ion cell in the world depends on this chain, and it is thinly covered. PVDF in particular went through a severe shortage in 2021–22 that few had modelled, because it sits two steps outside anyone’s definition of a battery material.

9.3 — Manganese — abundant ore, single-source sulfate

Manganese ore is genuinely abundant — South Africa, Gabon and Australia lead, and roughly 90 per cent of it goes into steel as ferromanganese, where purity barely matters.

High-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate for cathodes is a different product entirely, requiring iron and heavy metals in the low ppm, and China makes almost all of it.

9.4 — The pattern repeats

Important

The pattern repeats with unnerving consistency. The ore is widely distributed and cheap. The battery-grade purified form is made in one place. Manganese, phosphorus, fluorine, graphite, rare earths — the constraint is never the rock.

9.4.1 — Why these three are underrated

All three fail the usual test for a critical mineral, which is scarcity in the ground. Phosphate, fluorspar and manganese ore are all abundant. What is scarce is the purification step, and because the raw material is cheap and common these chains attract almost no policy attention until something in them breaks.

Quick check: test yourself

1.Why does LFP not remove supply-chain risk, only relocate it?

Show answer

Because it swaps cobalt and nickel exposure for purified phosphoric acid, fluorspar derivatives and, in LMFP variants, high-purity manganese sulfate. Each of those has its own concentrated midstream — around 85 per cent for PPA, 80 for LiPF₆ and PVDF, and about 95 for HPMSM — and none of them appears on typical critical-minerals lists.

2.Why does battery-grade phosphoric acid need iron below single-digit ppm?

Show answer

Because iron in the wrong crystallographic place in an LFP cathode is a defect that causes self-discharge. Wet-process acid from phosphate rock carries Fe, Al, Mg, F and heavy metals, so a solvent-extraction purification step is mandatory before it can go anywhere near a cathode.

3.What made the 2021–22 PVDF shortage so surprising?

Show answer

That almost nobody had it on a risk register. PVDF is the cathode binder, made from HF, made from fluorspar — two steps outside most people’s definition of a battery material — yet every lithium-ion cell in the world depends on that chain, and so does the LiPF₆ electrolyte salt from the same feedstock.

Chapter summary

✓An LFP cell’s exposure is to purified phosphoric acid, fluorspar derivatives and high-purity manganese sulfate rather than to cobalt and nickel.
✓Wet-process phosphoric acid generates five tonnes of mildly radioactive phosphogypsum per tonne of P₂O₅, and battery grade needs iron below single-digit ppm.
✓Fluorspar feeds both the electrolyte salt and the cathode binder, so a single mineral underpins every lithium-ion cell in the world.
✓Manganese ore is abundant and mostly goes to steel; the battery-grade sulfate is a different product made almost entirely in one country.
✓The constraint is never the rock — it is the purification step, which is exactly why these three chains attract so little attention.

Frequently asked questions

What does an LFP cell actually depend on?+

Purified phosphoric acid, lithium carbonate, iron sulfate, high-purity manganese sulfate for LMFP variants, and fluorine for both the electrolyte salt and the binder. None of cobalt or nickel. That is a completely different exposure profile rather than simply a cheaper one, and three of those inputs — PPA, HPMSM and fluorspar derivatives — rarely appear on critical-minerals lists at all.

Why does battery-grade phosphoric acid need such extreme purity?+

Because iron in the wrong place in an LFP cathode is a defect that causes self-discharge, so PPA needs iron below single-digit ppm. Wet-process acid from phosphate rock carries Fe, Al, Mg, F and heavy metals, and removing them takes solvent extraction. The process also generates phosphogypsum at five tonnes per tonne of P₂O₅ — mildly radioactive from natural uranium in the rock, and stockpiled in enormous stacks.

Why is fluorspar a single point of failure for every lithium-ion cell?+

Because CaF₂ plus sulfuric acid gives hydrogen fluoride, and HF gives both products a cell cannot do without: LiPF₆, the electrolyte salt, and PVDF, the cathode binder. Acid-grade fluorspar must be above 97 per cent CaF₂, China supplies roughly two-thirds of world output, and the chain is thinly covered — PVDF went through a severe shortage in 2021–22 that few had modelled, because it sits two steps outside anyone’s definition of a battery material.

Manganese is abundant. Why is it on the list?+

Because the ore and the battery input are different products. Manganese ore is genuinely abundant — South Africa, Gabon and Australia lead — and roughly 90 per cent of it goes into steel as ferromanganese where purity barely matters. High-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate for cathodes requires iron and heavy metals in the low ppm, and China makes almost all of it. The pattern repeats with unnerving consistency: the ore is widely distributed and cheap, the battery-grade purified form is made in one place.

Reviewed by

Sahil Goyal

Co-founder, Wingzman

Sourabh Goyal

Co-founder, Wingzman

Ore to Vehicle is an original educational series on the battery and EV materials supply chain. Country shares, grades, prices and policy status are approximate, drawn from public reporting as of mid-2026, and move year to year — treat them as orders of magnitude rather than as a ledger, and verify before relying on them commercially.