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Several major producers and consumers regard silicon-based materials as a complimentary or substitute material for graphite in the production of battery anodes, because it can improve the energy density and charging speeds of batteries, making it an appealing choice for applications where factors such as battery cell weight are a particular priority, such as in electric vehicles (EVs).
Silicon is used as an anode material in a number of different forms, with vastly different price tags and energy efficiencies.
In a presentation at Fastmarkets’ European Battery Raw Materials (BRM) Conference in Amsterdam on September 18-20, the chief executive of silicon anode material developer E-magy, Casper Peeters, said a variety of silicon-based materials can be used as anode material.
The cheapest form, with the lowest energy capacity, is silicon oxide, which is currently used in small quantities in graphite-dominant anodes. The highest energy density comes is in silicon produced via silane gas, he said. Other forms include silicon-carbon composites and chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
As with silicon metal and number of other BRMs, China is currently responsible for most of the world’s output of high-purity silicon for anodes.
Last week, Shenzhen Aipunuo New Energy Technology announced a $1.5 billion investment in a 300,000 tonnes per year silicon-based anode project at Xichang in Sichuan province in southwest China.
The first stage of the project’s construction is expected to have a capacity of some 120,000 tonnes of silicon-carbon anode material when it starts operations in December 2024.
The risks related to China’s dominance in supplies of another silicon-based net-zero technology – solar panels – have become apparent in recent years, with the United States banning imports of some Chinese solar materials over the use of forced labor in the major polysilicon-producing region Xinjiang.
And non-Chinese producers are moving to introduce additional supply, in part to allow consumers to source material while having to comply with legislation such as the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Several Western companies are moving into the silicon anode sector, including Canada-based NEO Battery Materials, which expects to produce 5,000 tonnes of anode material annually, once its commercial plant completes its final expansion phase in 2027-2028.
This would be sufficient to supply 3.5 million electric vehicles annually, the company said.
Unlike many of its competitors, NEO’s products are based on high-purity metallurgical-grade silicon, which is coated using a proprietary process, as opposed to silicon oxide or silicon-carbon composites.
The company told Fastmarkets that the supply and consumption of high-purity silicon metal will allow the production of anodes that are 70-80% cheaper than their nano-engineered silicon anode counterparts.
NEO said that silicon metal producers, both inside and and outside of China, are ramping up the production of high-purity silicon metal for anode materials.
Multiple major silicon producers in the West have cited demand from the green energy transition –including for solar and batteries – as presenting future opportunities for demand.
Among them is leading global silicon producer Ferroglobe, which plans to expand its production of high-purity silicon for anodes should demand prove sufficient, a spokesperson said.
Ferroglobe and NEO Battery Materials entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in 2021 to “pursue synergies and mutual benefit through combining NEO’s silicon nanocoating technology and Ferroglobe’s silicon materials to optimize the electro-chemical performance, and the cost of the silicon powder and anode materials in lithium-ion batteries.”
Initially, Ferroglobe aims to supply high-purity silicon raw materials to producers making silicon-carbon anode composites and to silicon oxide-based anode producers.
It currently has capacity to produce high-purity silicon metal at its plants in Spain and France, with milling capacity in Spain, and has plans in place to add capacity elsewhere – including in the US.
“We have strategic plans to increase capacity in Europe and North America, but its execution will depend on commercialization,” the company added.
Additionally, the company’s plant at Bécancour, Canada – which is the home to several other BRM companies – presents another opportunity for expansion of production, given the mass of battery companies concentrated there.
“We are developing new ‘micrometric’ [sized] silicon to be used in silicon-dominant anodes,” the spokesperson added.
Silicon anode production has been at the heart of the strategic direction of several other companies, including Sinova Global, an emerging North American producer of a range of silicon products.
Sinova CEO Jayson Tymko told Fastmarkets that his company plans to produce silicon metal at 99.90-99.99% purity which can be used either to compliment or to replace graphite in anodes.
The company’s high-purity silicon is expected to supply nano-engineered silicon anode materials – with the extra refinements required to process high-purity silicon metal into anodes to be carried out by its customers.
The company has been in talks with different North American and Asian anode manufacturers, Tymko said, with those in North America particularly eager for local supplies.
In part due to the availability of cheaper and sometimes subsidized energy sources in China, the country is currently able to produce lower-cost silicon metal.
Fastmarkets currently assesses two grades of metallurgical silicon in Europe – 4-4-1 (99%) and 5-5-3 (98.50%). It currently only assesses 5-5-3 grade in China.
Fastmarkets’ assessed price for silicon grade 5-5-3 98.5% Si min, in-whs Rotterdam was stable at €1,950-2,200 ($2,075-2,342) per tonne on September 22.
The assessed price for silicon export 98.5% Si min, fob China was $2,000-2,050 per tonne on the same day, rising from $1,980-2,020 per tonne on September 15.
The price disparity also extends to anode-grade silicon metal, according to NEO, which cited figures showing a price disparity between anode-grade silicon metal produced in and out of China.
Ferroglobe was unable to give details about the cost of its materials, but the company spokesperson said it was aiming to develop a “cost-effective silicon raw material and anodic materials.”
“Ferroglobe is looking at the sweet spot between performance, cost and industrialization,” the spokesperson said.
Similarly, Tymko said Sinova would be price-competitive, especially considering the incentives introduced by legislation such as the IRA – although the company is still assessing the exact impact of any legislative incentives.
“Presently, the focus on onshoring is pushing initiatives faster but, ultimately, [it will be] availability, quality and price that will prevail – and Sinova feels strongly that we can win on all three fronts,” Tymko said.
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