Oil Base needle coke create a new era of lithium battery anode development

 

There are reasons for Sumitomo China’s success as a company who first sold petroleum-based needle coke in China. Cathode companies in Japan used petroleum-based needle coke to produce cathode of lithium battery very early. Some people from Japanese companies even predicted that cathode materials of lithium battery would enter the petroleum-based needle coke era. As one of the subsidiaries of Japan Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo China took the lead in promoting petroleum-based needle coke application in lithium battery cathode in Chinese market. Now, more than 20 main lithium battery cathode manufactures have started to use this coke to produce lithium battery cathode.

 

Before that, domestic manufactures tried to use coal-based needle coke to produce lithium battery cathode, but the big residual swell due to gas expansion during graphitization causes a fatal defection which is natural and insuperable. Compared with coal-based needle coke, petroleum-based one can be easily graphitized with a high degree, thus it was considered by some Chinese manufactures as a perfect kind of material to produce lithium battery cathode in 2014, which has been confirmed by experimental data. In this context, Mr. He assumed that petroleum-based needle coke would soon become the main material for lithium battery cathode production with no doubt. He also suggested that producers of lithium battery and petroleum-based needle coke should strengthen mutual communication and cooperation to improve the coke quality for better application in lithium battery cathode. At that time, one kind of petroleum-based needle coke may be named cathode coke.

 

Requirements for needle coke are not uniform in different areas. In producing graphite electrode, it is used to improve strength, lower electrical resistivity and consumption of per ton steel; for lithium battery cathode, it is applied to increase battery capacity per gram, prolong cycle life and improve safety, which are exactly advantages of petroleum-based needle coke. 

 

Japan is the first country promoting petroleum-based needle coke application in cathode material production, but Mr. He feels confident about Chinese market demand in this area. Graphitization, a process in using petroleum-based needle coke, consumes much power. High electricity price in Japan directly results in the rising cost of Japanese manufactures. Much lower electricity price in some places and a lot of professional graphitization factors in China are favorable to Chinese cathode material manufactures. China has to make good use of its advantage and resources both inside and outside to find a leading position in lithium battery cathode material industry. What Sumitomo China sells now is a kind of petroleum-based needle coke produced by British Philip 66, which is the largest needle coke manufacture in the world. Its productivity of petroleum-based needle coke can be as much as 450 thousand tons. The company is well received by global customers due to its stable quality and supply ability.