Resumen de The changing face of natural graphite in lithium-ion batteries
Natural graphite accounts for around 40% of the current feedstock material for battery anodes, with synthetic graphite accounting for the remaining 60%. Nearly all natural spherical graphite is produced in uncoated form in China, with small volumes produced in Japan and Korea.
The decline in waste ratios is set to slow demand for natural flake graphite for spherical production in the medium term, although a drop in wastage levels will still mean that 1kg of anode graphite will require an input of 1.67kg of flake graphite.
This evolution is likely to raise concerns over the future of battery grade graphite, as some manufacturers have started to use a blend of both natural flake graphite and other substitutes for consumable applications, limiting demand, with manufacturers switching from a flake graphite base to synthetic graphite.
