Special Report: Graphite and graphene industry trend Technology, including graphene, depends on a reliable supply of quality materials. The past decade has seen increased demand for lithium, cobalt, indium, and many other metals, some of which are now in short supply. However, there is one that is clearly overlooked. That is graphite.
Natural graphite is currently consumed widely in steelmaking and used in brake linings, foundry facings and lubricants. Its thermal conductivity allows it to be used as refractories in extreme heat applications. Synthetic graphite, due to its purity and particle morphology, is used in making electrodes and neutron moderators in the nuclear industry. Powder and scrap, competing with natural graphite, is used in all forms of steelmaking.
In parallel with the progression of graphene from research and development to applications, the technology to purify natural graphite is also advancing. Where synthetic graphite was once the only choice, new refining processes make natural graphite a viable alternative at a fraction of the cost.
Graphite is one of the materials used in the rapidly expanding automotive battery application. For example, Tesla Motors Inc. has announced plans for a gigafactory to manufacture batteries in large enough quantities to meet the needs of the 500,000 electric cars the company plans to produce in 2020 – about one-sixth of the projected electronic vehicle market. In addition, Tesla’s Powerwall is planned to start installation this summer and significantly scale in growth next year, which could help integrate renewable energy sources and more evenly distribute grid electrical demands. Many scientists believe that natural graphite is part of what is required to make large scale batteries available at a reasonable cost.
The total amount of natural graphite currently produced annually, which is applicable to batteries, is approximately 50,000 tonnes. This amount is shared amongst electronics, automotive and grid applications as well as the traditional graphite markets. Demand in battery application is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years. This graphite will be either artificial, natural graphite flakes or natural graphite that has been ‘balled’. The choice will be economic subject to availability. It is likely that, as long as the quality can be met, the supply will be natural followed by ball graphite, with the remainder being artificial. Details of the graphite usage analysis in electric car marketing can be found in Dr Ian Flint’s article ‘Graphite Supply Critical To The Development Of the Automotive Industry’.
The same applies to the nuclear industry. Historically, only synthetic graphite has been used due to its required purity and particle size. For this application, natural graphite purification has proved costly and inefficient. Graphite companies are testing techniques that have been proven over time in other mining applications that could change this restriction in the future. If natural graphite can be used, it is likely to be preferred for both performance and price considerations. Details of graphite use in nuclear industry can be found in Flint’s article ‘Dr. Flint On The Rising Demand For Nuclear Graphite’.
The Chinese Government currently owns about 77% of graphite deposits worldwide with its 500 million tonnes of known reserves. China has historically been the low-end raw material supplier and a purchaser of high-end graphite-finished products from other nations. It has realised the potential of the value-added, processed natural graphite and has invested CNY 5.1bn (~€0.7bn) into graphite value-added processes development and graphene research and development. China owns 13,355 patents or 47% of worldwide graphene patents (Graphene: the worldwide patent landscape in 2015).
The highest quality graphene requires the best precursor graphite, with morphologies suitable to the specific final product, combined with high quality control at the processing stage. Technology will be a part of the deciding factor as to who produces premium grade products. Higher quality graphene will require a larger precursor crystal size and the structural integrity present in amorphous graphite. The best graphite will likely be crystals that are flat, ordered and with few displacements of the graphene layers in the parent crystals. This graphite crystal is found in almost all graphite deposits; however, the quality must remain after processing. Not all deposits are amenable to this type of processing. The highest purity and ordered graphite in the world is found in the pure geothermal vein deposits. Grades can be 98% exiting the mine with almost no contaminants other than large-sized silica and pyrite. This is arguably the best graphite in the world. Aside from these veins, which have limited production, the best graphite is found in weathered metamorphic deposits. Companies without access to these or similar graphite sources will be forced into the lower margin graphene markets.
In conclusion, high grade natural graphite, processed for use as a substitute for synthetic graphite, is in growing demand worldwide. Technology is driving the current market, which is dominated by China. Natural graphite has varying levels of quality, only some of which is suitable to be made into high quality graphene. In order to ensure and secure a supply of appropriate graphite, graphene producers will need to establish connections with high quality graphite mines worldwide.
About Elcora Resources Crop. (TSXV:ERA/Frankfurt:ELM)
The company is a TSX Venture Exchange-listed company and owns an interest in the Ragadera graphite mine in Sri Lanka. It is continuing to upgrade the existing infrastructure to increase the production of graphite from the Ragadera mine, and metallurgical testing and laboratory research on that graphite to determine a suitable process for the commercial production of graphene are ongoing. Construction of a graphite refining facility is underway.
Technology, including graphene, depends on a reliable supply of quality materials. The past decade has seen increased demand for lithium, cobalt, indium, and many other metals, some of which are now in short supply. However, there is one that is clearly overlooked. That is graphite.
