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carbon anode production needs to scale to meet sodium ion battery ambitions","hard-carbon-anode-production-needs-to-scale-to-meet-sodium-ion-battery-ambitions","article/hard-carbon-anode-production-needs-to-scale-to-meet-sodium-ion-battery-ambitions",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":569,"content":579,"excerpt":717,"featured":51,"reporter":718,"_editable":722,"component":723,"seo_title":553,"categories":724,"visibility":733,"author_company":49,"featured_image":734,"seo_description":717,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":739,"formattedArticleDate":740},"f4aded07-8e71-4056-b0bb-a54b342b82a5","2023-12-12 00:00",[560,563,566],{"slug":561,"name":562},"china","China",{"slug":564,"name":565},"sodium-ion-2","Sodium ion",{"slug":567,"name":568},"sodium-ion-batteries","Sodium Ion Batteries",[570],{"slug":571,"name":572,"content":573},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":574,"image":575,"bio":577,"linkedin":578},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":576},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":580,"content":581},"doc",[582,596,601,606,616,621,630,637,642,647,652,657,662,667,672,677,682,687,692,697,702,707,712],{"type":583,"attrs":584,"content":585},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[586,594],{"text":565,"type":587,"marks":588},"text",[589],{"type":590,"attrs":591},"link",{"href":592,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/market-assessments/sodium-ion-batteries/","url",{"text":595,"type":587}," battery production is set to accelerate as some automakers look to capitalise on the potentially lower costs compared to lithium ion batteries.",{"type":583,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":587},"While lithium ion batteries use graphite anode materials, sodium ion batteries require hard carbon anodes instead. ",{"type":583,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":587},"But announcements for the production of such anodes are lagging behind those of sodium ion battery cell production. ",{"type":583,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609,614],{"text":610,"type":587,"marks":611},"Benchmark data forecasts",[612],{"type":590,"attrs":613},{"href":592,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},{"text":615,"type":587}," that even the high case for 2025 production of hard carbon anodes is just a third of what is needed to match the expected production of sodium ion cells.",{"type":583,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":587},"“Until you start seeing those hard carbon announcements, then that’s the limiting factor for the sodium ion battery industry,” Rory McNulty, senior analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":583,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"type":625,"attrs":626},"image",{"id":49,"alt":627,"src":628,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":629},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/3dff62c08f/bm-image-48.png",{},{"type":631,"attrs":632,"content":634},"heading",{"level":633,"textAlign":49},4,[635],{"text":636,"type":587},"What is hard carbon?",{"type":583,"attrs":638,"content":639},{"textAlign":49},[640],{"text":641,"type":587},"Where graphite has a layered structure in which lithium ions intercalate, hard carbon has a less well defined structure. Sodium ions then adsorb onto the surface and pores of the hard carbon during charging.",{"type":583,"attrs":643,"content":644},{"textAlign":49},[645],{"text":646,"type":587},"This less structured material has a higher volume than graphite, leading to a lower volumetric energy density. This is one of the factors that give sodium ion batteries a lower capacity than an equivalently-sized lithium ion battery.",{"type":583,"attrs":648,"content":649},{"textAlign":49},[650],{"text":651,"type":587},"Hard carbon can be made through the pyrolysis of abundant biomass sources such as coconut shells and sugars or phenolic resins. These sources are widely spread geographically, Brigita Darminto, senior analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":583,"attrs":653,"content":654},{"textAlign":49},[655],{"text":656,"type":587},"Typically the feedstock material is low cost and is often a by- or waste-product of the agricultural, food, textile or manufacturing industries. Compared to graphite anode production, however, more tonnage of feedstock material is typically required to make one tonne of anode.",{"type":583,"attrs":658,"content":659},{"textAlign":49},[660],{"text":661,"type":587},"Since the cost of feedstock material is low, in the long run with economies of scale, the total cost of hard carbon anodes production is expected to be comparable or even lower than that of graphite anodes, according to Benchmark.",{"type":631,"attrs":663,"content":664},{"level":633,"textAlign":49},[665],{"text":666,"type":587},"Chinese production accelerates ",{"type":583,"attrs":668,"content":669},{"textAlign":49},[670],{"text":671,"type":587},"Despite the widespread availability of biomass feedstock material, 90% of hard carbon anode production capacity for 2023 is located in China.",{"type":583,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":587},"The top five graphite anode producers are all based in China. Each also has plans in the hard carbon anode space. BTR, the world’s largest producer of graphite anodes for the lithium ion battery industry, has a range of hard carbon products targeting sodium ion batteries for the two- and three-wheeler markets as well as energy storage.",{"type":583,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":587},"The 2030 pipeline capacity for hard carbon anode production from Chinese incumbents has surpassed 14,000 tonnes.",{"type":583,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":587},"Some non-Chinese players plan to enter the market over the next decade, but China’s control of the market will remain strong with 86% of the 2030 pipeline capacity for hard carbon anodes being located in the country.",{"type":583,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690],{"text":691,"type":587},"Although there is increasing movement in the space, the hard carbon anode industry has yet to see significant investment from downstream players such as cell and automakers.",{"type":631,"attrs":693,"content":694},{"level":633,"textAlign":49},[695],{"text":696,"type":587},"Lack of Tier 1 producers",{"type":583,"attrs":698,"content":699},{"textAlign":49},[700],{"text":701,"type":587},"Despite the presence of anode industry heavyweights such as BTR, the vast majority of planned hard carbon anode capacity is from companies who have never produced battery grade anode materials at all.",{"type":583,"attrs":703,"content":704},{"textAlign":49},[705],{"text":706,"type":587},"One such company in this category is the Shengquan Group, an established Chinese biomass and chemicals producer, though with no experience in anode manufacturing. The company has 80,000 tonnes of hard carbon anode in its pipeline, using biomass resin as the feedstock material.",{"type":583,"attrs":708,"content":709},{"textAlign":49},[710],{"text":711,"type":587},"Tier 1 producers are categorised by Benchmark as producers with track records in supplying anode material to cell makers. This Tier represents just 29% of forecast production in 2025.",{"type":583,"attrs":713,"content":714},{"textAlign":49},[715],{"text":716,"type":587},"“The majority are still very much focused on graphite for lithium ion batteries,” Darminto said.","Sodium ion battery production is set to accelerate as some automakers look to capitalise on the potentially lower costs compared to lithium ion batteries. While lithium ion batteries use graphite anode materials, sodium ion batteries require hard carbon anodes instead. But announcements for the production of such anodes are lagging behind those of sodium ion […]",[719],{"slug":571,"name":572,"content":720},{"job_title":574,"image":721,"bio":577,"linkedin":578},{"filename":576},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"f4aded07-8e71-4056-b0bb-a54b342b82a5\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[725,727,730],{"slug":726,"name":265},"anode",{"slug":728,"name":729},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":731,"name":732},"battery-technology","Battery Technology","private",{"id":49,"alt":735,"name":627,"focus":627,"title":735,"source":627,"filename":736,"copyright":627,"fieldtype":737,"meta_data":738,"is_external_url":51},"Sodium ion battery cells on a pile of salt","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/4a0baef41b/bm-sodium-ion-batteries.jpg","asset",{"alt":735,"title":735,"source":627,"copyright":627},"Dec 12, 2023","12th December 2023",[],[],1789982580026]