High Purity Upgrade Process
High Purity Milling & Finishing
High purity milling of graphite is designed to yield concentrates of 99% C or better. Various configurations of the process can be put in place to achieve these levels, as well as provide for additional treatments and features such as spherisizing, carbon coating, compacting, calendaring, or creating graphite dispersions. A typical process, as shown below, consists initially of one form or another of attrition-based sized reduction. This process may use one or more of several attrition techniques including: jet mill, attrition, ball mill, hammer mill, CF mill or atomizer mill, planetary mixer, and hybridizers. If defined shaping such as producing spherical graphite is required, material can then be treated through a "mechanical fusion” process that efficiently removes the jagged edges normally associated with graphite flakes.
Chemical and/or thermal purification is designed to remove impurities that exist or are "intercalated” between the various graphite planes. This type of treatment is critical for improving and ensuring the maximum electrical conductivity in applications such as battery grade materials. Most graphite deposits display their own unique properties, which in turn requires companies to develop their own unique, and normally proprietary, methods of treating their raw materials. In addition, products must also normally be tailored to meet the needs of individual customers and their own particular applications. This is one of the key reasons that broad-based internal research and development (R&D) capabilities form a necessary part of a successful graphite operation. These efforts can also include extensive interaction with research labs and universities to develop unique products and the corresponding competitive advantages they will generate. In this regard Mega Graphite has developed a strong relationship with Hydro Quebec’s R&D facilities, and has licensed a comprehensive milling process for producing battery grade materials.
As with base milling processes, finished products must have defined moisture contents, specific density values, and where required are screened and classified according to size. Another key to the success of such operations is the production of finished materials on a cost effective basis. By seeking out advanced technologies from around the world, carrying out extensive internal pilot plant testing, and carefully planning each step of the way, Mega Graphite is confident it will achieve both the low costs it needs to compete, and be able to produce a range of high quality, high purity graphite products capable of meeting a wide range of customer needs.
Spherical Graphite
To enhance the electrochemical performance of graphite in Li-I batteries, graphite flakes are increasingly milled into spheres and then coated with carbon. The coated spheres serve two purposes:
- they improve lithium ion intercalation by increasing the planar edge orientation and decreasing the basal edge;
- they make coating of the anode more homogenous which in turn improves the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation. This decreases exfoliation
(which can lead to decomposition, gas formation, and explosions in the battery).
- cost effective when compared to only other spherical carbon available on the market:Mesocarbon Microbeads (MCMB) - an artificial graphite that requires costly processing at high temperature (2,800° C), as well as
- complex synthesis which further increases production costs.
- the thickness of the electrodes is better controlled which facilitates the design of compact and super-thin Li-ion batteries.
| GRAPHITE PARAMETERS |
ANODE PARAMETERS |
| Carbon Coated Spherical – prevents exfoliation and improves intercalation at high rates |
Large Reversible Capacity (372 mAh/g) |
| High Crystallinity – large crystallites and structure perfection: improves intercalation. | Small Irreversible Capacity – prevents loss of capacity and gas evolution. |
| High Xylene Density – reduces voids within particles. |
Desirable Charge Profile – ensures rapid charging. |
| High Tap Density – improves energy storage capacity by increasing electrode density. | Long Cycle and Calendar Life – ensures required economic performance. |
| High Compressibility – improves packed density and electrical conductivity. |
Safety – minimal exfoliation and decomposition. |
| Optimized BET Surface Area– improves anode performance and safety of battery. |
Compatibility with Electrolyte and Binder Systems – improves battery life and performance. |
| Effective Size Profile |
Low Cost – reduces overall vehicle or product cost. |
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Latest Graphite Prices
2012 Industrial Minerals Graphite Prices per Tonne
FCL CIF main European port
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Latest Research
 The City of Windsor has agreed to purchase up to 10 electric buses (ebuses) from BYD. This deal could potentially lead to BYD manufacturing ebuses in the Ontario region. The first electric bicycle (ebike) made in Canada will make its debut on city streets this spring.
The Procycle eVox ebike is targeting customers that are cycling enthusiasts over 50 years of
age and young urban professionals.
IBM is onto a potential breakthrough lithium-air battery that can theoretically store 1,000x more energy than a lithium-ion (li-ion) battery. The battery literally breathes in air to produce more energy as an EV is driven which extends the range of a single charge.
Canada’s first public network of charging stations is about to power up. By March, the first 90 240-volt charging stations should be operating at 60 sites in the Montreal and Quebec City regions. Toyota and BMW announced a partnership to share eco-friendly technologies, including in the joint development of lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries for next-generation electric vehicles (EVs). The organizations will share development costs for batteries for EVs as part of plans to roll out battery-powered vehicles.
Researchers at Northwestern University have developed an electrode that could allow conventional li-ion batteries to hold a charge 10 times greater than current technology. The researchers sandwiched clusters of silicon between the graphene sheets that could eliminate or marginalize the fragmentation.
Nissan is aiming to sell 1.5 million electric vehicles (EVs) around the world by 2016. The company plans to add an additional seven models across the Nissan and Renault group.
NAATBatt September Issue Japan's three carbon fiber suppliers (Toray Industries, Toho Tenax and Mitsubishi Rayon) are leading a drive to adopt the lightweight carbon fiber (CF) for automobile According to BMW, CF is used for about 30% of the vehicle's body, cutting its weight by about 100 kilograms.
NAATBatt October Issue Johnson Controls is investing $100 million to build a Start-Stop vehicle battery plant in China. The plant will supply global and local automakers in Asia and is expected to start production in early 2013. The company plans to produce an annual capacity of 2.4 million Start-Stop batteries by 2015 for local and global automakers. President Barack Obama toured the Johnson Controls-Saft advanced battery center, the first facility in the United States to produce lithium-ion (li-ion) battery cells and systems for electric vehicles (EVs). Johnson Controls has also committed to opening a 2nd li-ion plant in the U.S.
Graphene could create faster semiconductors
Sunday, August 21, 2011 A one-atom-thick layer of carbon may one day help IBM Corp. and the U.S. military build more precise radar and computers that operate at near the speed of light. Click here to read more IBM to Use Graphene in PCs by: Zacks Equity Research
August 22. 2011 International Business Machines Corp. (IBM - Analyst Report) recently made a significant breakthrough in silicon replacement, when its researchers developed the first integrated circuit (IC) from wafer-size graphene. IBM intends to use graphene in semiconductors and computers, according to a latest report from Bloomberg. Click here to read more ASU Researchers Use Graphite to Boost Solar Efficiency, Cut Costs
World's thinnest substance graphene 'will power the next generation of computers'
July 25, 2011 A new generation of computers and smartphones could run much faster if they were made from the world's thinnest substance, scientists have claimed. New graphene discovery boosts oil exploration efforts, could enable self-powered microsensors July 19, 2011
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a new method to harvest energy from flowing water. This discovery aims to hasten the creation of self-powered microsensors for more accurate and cost-efficient oil exploration.
Click here to read more
Hydrogen may be key to growth of high-quality grapheme
July 18, 2011 Implications of this research are significant, according to Vlassiouk, who said, "Our findings are crucial for developing a method for growing ultra-large-scale single domain graphene that will constitute a major breakthrough toward graphene implementation in real-world devices."
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News
 Hydro-Québec and Technifin form partnership to license lithium titanate spinel oxide (LTO)
Hydro-Québec and Technifin (a subsidiary of South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) have entered into an intellectual property (IP) collaboration agreement relating to the licensing of their respective lithium titanate spinel oxide technologies. Technology transfer and know-how will be provided with the support of Hydro-Québec researchers to enable rapid and efficient implementation of the technology in battery products. The Hydro-Québec/Technifin LTO patents comprise two separate groups of patent rights affording extensive worldwide protection for LTO technology.
Source: The Montreal Gazette MATERIALS FOR BATTERY MANUFACTURING
Hydro-Québec’s research institute, IREQ, is contributing to the development of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. It is conducting extensive work on battery materials, particularly molten salts, lithium iron phosphate and nanotitanates. Its contribution is helping to develop safe, high-performance lithium-ion batteries that can be charged more quickly and a greater number of times. Click here to read more In the Developing World, Solar Is Cheaper than Fossil Fuels
Advances are opening solar to the 1.3 billion people who don't have access to grid electricity. January 27, 2012 | By Kevin Bullis| Technology Review Click here to read more
Graphene neural implants being developed to treat Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and more August 04, 2011 Neural implants have the potential to treat disorders and diseases that typically require long-term treatment, such as blindness, deafness, epilepsy, spinal cord injury, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. However, implantable devices have been problematic in clinical applications because of bodily reactions that limit device functioning time. Graphene neural implants could be made to last longer (perhaps 5 years) and could be smaller than current implants. Click here to read more Breakthrough could push graphene into mass production
Researchers have made a breakthrough in graphene manufacturing that could lead to mass production of the wonder material. Click here to read more Graphene gel means high speed, long lasting batteries Graphene - is there anything it can’t do? Probably. It'll never score a top ten hit, but following a discovery by researchers at Monash University, the wonder material has added yet another string to its bow. Click here to read more Manitoba Hydro plugs into electric vehicles
Larry Kusch Posted | Winnipeg Free Press With electric cars soon to hit the local market, Manitoba Hydro is planning for its role as the 'filling station' of the future. The Manitoba Crown corporation's best guess is that within 20 years, the electrical load from zero-emission battery-powered electric vehicles will be 200 megawatts. That's the equivalent of the power that will be generated from Hydro's new Wuskwatim dam, set to come on stream next year. It assumes that tens of thousands of customers will be driving electric vehicles (EVs) by then. Click here to read more |
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