Sustainable processing and refining of battery grade graphite (Batteries Partnership)

• Enabling European graphite production – with vertical integration into the European battery production. Resource efficient sustainable production of both synthetic and natural graphite emphasising reduction of energy consumption, CO₂ emissions, chemical use and the optimisation of recovery yield and raw material consumption. Enhance versatility regarding products and usable primary/secondary raw materials.
• Development of solutions for combined use of natural and synthetic graphite.
• For natural graphite: improving purification, milling, shaping and coating technologies that improve the performance characteristics of natural graphite.
• Improving the yield of spheronised products from natural graphite concentrate.
• Development of a non-HF purification technology to produce battery-grade anode material from spheronised natural graphite.
• Developing improved coating technologies for natural graphite that will increase the performance characteristics of natural compared to synthetic.
• For synthetic graphite: Improving graphitisation, calcining, milling, shaping and coating that improve the performance characteristics of synthetic graphite.
• The use of other available European carbon options like biobased anode carbon and by-products from anode material production as raw materials for synthetic graphite are expected to be developed.
• Development of new processes for synthetic graphite production from natural gas pyrolysis.
• Reduction of process discharge and emissions in synthetic graphite production.

This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on ‘Towards a competitive European industrial battery value chain for stationary applications and e-mobility’.