🌱 What is graphite used for?
Graphite is “a soft form of carbon”. While it used to predominantly be used in the steel industry, it is now a key component in the batteries of electric vehicles (EVs). Since 2018, the end-use market for graphite in batteries has increased by 250% globally. Due to “its relatively low cost, high energy density and stable structure”, graphite is “the most common material used in the anode side of lithium-ion batteries”. There is approximately double the amount of graphite than there is lithium in an EV battery. All in all, “[g]raphite is the largest EV battery component by weight, with each vehicle on average using 50-100 kg of the material in its battery pack for the anodes”. Notably, graphite is on the European Commission’s list of critical raw materials and thereby deemed as being “essential for the European economy and the green transition”.
🌱 How is graphite produced?
The graphite used in batteries can be produced from mined “natural” material or from a “synthetic” process that uses a petroleum feedstock. The use of synthetic graphite in battery cells helps them “charge quicker and last longer”, but it makes the production more costly. Many U.S. and European companies have invested in the development of synthetic graphite over the past few years. It is therefore estimated that synthetic graphite “could account for nearly two-thirds of the EV battery anode market by 2025”.
🌱 Can graphite be recycled?
In many existing technologies used for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries, the “graphite is either burned off or ends up in landfill”. Yet, the French geologist and researcher, Anna Vanderbruggen recently developed a way “to source some of the high-quality, anode graphite necessary for lithium-ion batteries […] from old batteries”. The technology she developed “can be directly implemented during the recycling process” of used batteries. Her “method can reduce both the costs and the carbon footprint” of producing graphite. The invention is expected to bring “huge advantages for Europe in establishing more autonomy over [its] graphite supply”. It will also help the recycling industry meet their “targets for recycling efficiency” under the EU’s regulation on batteries and waste batteries.
🌱 Are graphite exports controlled?
The export of three different types of so-called “highly sensitive” graphite products was temporarily controlled by China, already prior to the announcement of the new export rules on 20 October 2023. These have now been added by the Chinese government to the new list of products for which an additional export permit is required. In the meantime, China has “dropped temporary controls on five less sensitive graphite items used in basic industries such as steel, metallurgy, and chemicals”.
Read more about graphite here:
- https://www.ft.com/content/8af8c05c-8e54-40e9-9051-5a0b2b036c32
- https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-new-graphite-restrictions
- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/20/economy/china-graphite-export-curbs-hnk-intl/index.html
- https://www.mining.com/web/china-to-curb-graphite-exports/
Read more about graphite recycling here:
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2095495622002029
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304389422014716
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admt.202200368
- https://eitrawmaterials.eu/the-superhero-of-european-graphite-recycling/
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