Oil Base Needle Coke Create A New Era Of Lithium Battery Anode Development

　　Needle coke isone of the topics of 2015 International Needle Coke and Graphite ElectrodeSummit Forum held by ICCSINO. What’s the view Sumitomo Corporation (hereinafterreferred to as Sumitomo China) hold on related business as a marketing andsales leader of petroleum-based needle coke in Chinese market? To understandthis, the author interviewed the carbon product director of Sumitomo China, Mr.Hepeng, to explore development of petroleum-based needle coke market and recentdynamics of Sumitomo China.

　　There arereasons for Sumitomo China’s success as a company who first soldpetroleum-based needle coke in China. Cathode companies in Japan usedpetroleum-based needle coke to produce cathode of lithium battery very early.Some people from Japanese companies even predicted that cathode materials oflithium battery would enter the petroleum-based needle coke era. As one of thesubsidiaries of Japan Sumitomo Corporation, Sumitomo China took the lead inpromoting petroleum-based needle coke application in lithium battery cathode inChinese market. Now, more than 20 main lithium battery cathode manufactureshave started to use this coke to produce lithium battery cathode.

　　Before that,domestic manufactures tried to use coal-based needle coke to produce lithiumbattery cathode, but the big residual swell due to gas expansion duringgraphitization causes a fatal defection which is natural and insuperable.Compared with coal-based needle coke, petroleum-based one can be easilygraphitized with a high degree, thus it was considered by some Chinesemanufactures as a perfect kind of material to produce lithium battery cathodein 2014, which has been confirmed by experimental data. In this context, Mr. Heassumed that petroleum-based needle coke would soon become the main materialfor lithium battery cathode production with no doubt. He also suggested thatproducers of lithium battery and petroleum-based needle coke should strengthenmutual communication and cooperation to improve the coke quality for betterapplication in lithium battery cathode. At that time, one kind ofpetroleum-based needle coke may be named cathode coke.

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

　　Japan is thefirst country promoting petroleum-based needle coke application in cathodematerial production, but Mr. He feels confident about Chinese market demand inthis area. Graphitization, a process in using petroleum-based needle coke,consumes much power. High electricity price in Japan directly results in therising cost of Japanese manufactures. Much lower electricity price in someplaces and a lot of professional graphitization factors in China are favorableto Chinese cathode material manufactures. China has to make good use of itsadvantage and resources both inside and outside to find a leading position inlithium battery cathode material industry. What Sumitomo China sells now is akind of petroleum-based needle coke produced by British Philip 66, which is thelargest needle coke manufacture in the world. Its productivity ofpetroleum-based needle coke can be as much as 450 thousand tons. The company iswell received by global customers due to its stable quality and supplyability.