MATERIALS
CarbonScape began the development of Biographite in 2016 “Mother Nature doesn’t make
high-performing graphite,” Williams continues. “Like in mining seams for other minerals, its quality is also very inconsistent. Our Biographite represents a new, high-quality form of synthetic graphite that performs at a similar level to the synthetic graphite that is already favoured by cell manufacturers and OEMs, due to its better performance characteristics.” The company has honed its
production process to run at half the temperatures required to make synthetic graphite, and to produce it in hours, not weeks. This means the process is far less energy intensive and is therefore cost-competitive. Williams adds, “Importantly, our
Biographite is produced via a carbon negative process. One which isn’t reliant on fossil fuels, uses renewable
feedstocks, employs renewable energy, and is highly energy efficient. As our process allows graphite to be produced anywhere there is adequate feedstock i.e., leftovers from the local forestry industry, enabling the battery industry to slash supply chain transport emissions.” Meeting the demand for batteries
with synthetic graphite would require more than tripling existing production capacity, using fossil fuel feedstocks and high-emission processes. To use mined graphite would require almost 100 new mines, each taking a decade or more to come online and costing hundreds of millions of dollars, with enormous social and environmental costs. By contrast, using less than five per cent of the forestry industry by- product generated annually in Europe and North America, CarbonScape’s cleaner, faster process could produce enough biographite to meet half the total global projected graphite demand for EV and grid-scale batteries by 2030.
Biographite is a carbon-negative alternative to graphite
ONGOING COMMERCIALISATION With the latest investment in mind, what are the commercialisation plans for Biographite? Williams says: “Thanks to the investment and support of strategic partners such as Stora Enso, one of the world’s largest forestry companies upstream, and leading lithium-ion manufacturer ATL downsteam, we are well-positioned
to roll out Biographite production in Europe and the US. Recent regulatory tailwinds show that the time is right for Biographite, with the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act and the US’ Inflation Reduction Act both incentivising onshoring where possible, to bolster supply chain security.” A key advantage of Biographite is in
localising the battery supply chain in order to address the challenge of the graphite supply chain’s dependence on China and secure local supply chains to safeguard countries’ transitions to net zero. This provides the opportunity to decarbonise the lithium-ion battery supply chain to the tune of over 86 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030. “We will soon begin realising the
potential of Biographite across the entire energy storage supply chain, from the e-mobility sector right through to grid-scale batteries and consumer electronics,” says Williams. “As awareness of the environmental and social drawbacks of mined and synthetic graphite grows, consumer pressure could drive increasing demand for more sustainable materials and thus, mainstream adoption of Biographite – reducing the carbon footprint of each battery by 30%. As such, its impact could be huge across a wide range of applications.”
For more information visit
www.carbonscape.com
www.engineerlive.com 19
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