Complete the last piece of the puzzle in the industrial chain

Employees inspect the production of equipment in the ternary precursor workshop.

In the footsteps of spring, the reporter came to the Wanwu Peninsula, which is the main position and battlefield of Fu'an's industrial economy. Fu'an Qingmei Energy Materials Co., Ltd., which was settled in 2018, is undoubtedly a dazzling pearl.

Qingmei is a joint venture between GEM Group and Tsingshan Industrial, and the strong alliance has generated new kinetic energy, especially in the research and development of a new generation of high-nickel ternary precursors, and has made a number of key technological breakthroughs, striving to complete the last piece of the puzzle of Ningde's new energy industry chain.

Walking into the automated workshop, the production line of 50,000 tons of ternary precursor and 20,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials is running at high speed, making every effort to catch up with the order. "In the first quarter, the output of ternary precursors hit a record high, a year-on-year increase of more than 450%, and the sales reached more than 300 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 300%. Lei Jie, deputy general manager of Fu'an Qingmei Energy Materials Co., Ltd. and general manager of the innovation and R&D sector of Qingmei Park, introduced.

Innovation-driven, "new" wind blowing

In the exhibition hall of Qingmei Control Center, on a display screen, the real-time changes in the configuration ratio of nickel, cobalt, manganese and other elements in the workshop reactor are clearly displayed. "Nickel-cobalt-manganese is the main element that makes up ternary precursor materials. Lei Jie said.

With the rapid rise of the new energy vehicle industry, lithium batteries, as the ballast stone of the industrial chain, have also flourished, and cathode materials are the most important part of the four major materials of lithium batteries, and ternary precursors are the key components of cathode materials. According to Lei Jie, the proportion of nickel in the ternary precursor material directly affects the energy density and mileage of lithium batteries.

"'High nickel and low cobalt' ternary precursor material is Qingmei's fist product, and the key to the company's breakthrough in this product is to master the core technology of controlling the concentration gradient of nickel, cobalt and manganese. Lei Jie told reporters.

After the air shower, entering the ternary precursor production workshop, there are few people on the production line, and in the tall reactor, the proportionally configured ternary precursor solution needs to be reacted in it for hundreds of hours to synthesize the ternary precursor material with uniform particle size distribution. "The realization of 'high nickel and low cobalt' involves the structure of ternary precursor materials. The ternary precursor particles are so fine that they can only be observed under the field emission scanning electron microscope, and the secret to controlling the structure of these fine particles lies in the reactor, Regje explained.

"The pH value, temperature, stirring speed, reaction time and other parameters in the reactor directly affect the apparent morphology, particle size distribution and other indicators of ternary precursor particles. Lei Jie said that these reactors are specially customized by the manufacturer according to the design parameters provided by Qingmei, and the data in the reactor will be integrated into the computer, and the staff can adjust the parameters through the computer.

What is new quality productivity? Qingmei uses "a new generation of high-nickel ternary precursors" to give its own answer.

At present, Qingmei has obtained more than 40 authorized patents and participated in the formulation of more than 10 national and industry standards.

Tasting the sweetness, Qingmei is more determined to innovate in science and technology. "The new quality productivity is characterized by innovation, and the key is quality. "In Lei Jie's view, to do scientific and technological innovation, it is necessary to re-invest and focus on talents," Qingmei's work motto also highlights 'innovation leading, quality first', we will continue to increase investment in product research and development, increase innovation, with leading technology, continuous iteration and optimization of a series of products, open up more markets, and increase the introduction of high-level talents, for the development of new quality productivity into the source of living water."

Complete the chain, full of "quality".

Walking through the Qingmei Industrial Park, a ten-meter-tall robot made of auto parts is very eye-catching. "In Qingmei Park, many decorations are modified from auto parts, which contains the concept of Qingmei 'eating and squeezing out resources'. Fu'an Qingmei Energy Materials Co., Ltd. administrative head intoxicated introduced.

Qingmei's "fast run" benefits from the blessing of two industry giants. As the world's largest nickel resource allocation enterprise, "putting laterite nickel ore in, refining ternary materials, and making batteries" is the development concept of the whole industry chain of new energy materials nickel resources of Tsingshan Industry, and as a global leader in circular economy, "recycling and recycling scrapped batteries, 'eating and squeezing out resources', and realizing green and low-carbon recycling" is the concrete embodiment of GEM's concept of building a green and environmentally friendly manufacturing industry.

"Qingmei is not only 'green mountains + GEM', but also 'green mountains and green waters, beautiful China'. Bai Liang, general manager of Fu'an Qingmei Energy Materials Co., Ltd., said that the positioning and goal of Ningde New Energy Materials Circular Economy Low-carbon Industrial Park is to use low-carbon and circular industries to develop new energy materials and connect the forward manufacturing and reverse recycling of Ningde's 100 billion new energy vehicle industrial cluster to form a closed-loop operation of the new energy industry chain in Ningde.

In the Qingmei laboratory, researchers are testing and analyzing the properties of the materials extracted from the reactor. Lei Jie told reporters that ternary precursor materials are not directly used in lithium battery production, and downstream customers still need to "embed" lithium elements in them before they can be used as cathode materials for lithium battery production, so different customers have different requirements for ternary precursor structure. In order to quickly meet the refined needs of customers, Qingmei has set up two test lines dedicated to the research and development of new ternary precursor materials, based on the company's existing equipment and R&D capabilities, it is generally more than a month to deliver customized ternary precursor materials.

At the same time, in Qingmei Industrial Park, it is also planned to build a 100,000-ton scrapped power battery recycling project to reverse recycle lithium batteries and realize the closed-loop operation of the new energy industry chain in Ningde. "The 100,000-ton scrapped power battery recycling project is to recycle scrapped lithium batteries, extract nickel, cobalt, manganese and other elements for recycling, and complete the last piece of the puzzle in Ningde's new energy industry chain. Bai Liang said.

The chain creates new momentum and new opportunities. Fu'an's high-quality promotion of the Qingmei project not only adds another piece to the smooth flow of Ningde's new energy industry chain, but also becomes an innovative project for the integrated development of Ningde's two 100-billion-yuan industrial clusters of new energy and stainless steel new materials. "Fu'an actively integrates into the four leading industrial ecosystems of Ningde, continuously consolidates the development advantages of the stainless steel new material industry, accelerates the development of new quality productivity, and makes greater contributions to promoting new industrialization and helping Ningde build a 'global new energy and new material industry core area'. Zhou Xiangqi, secretary of the Fu'an Municipal Party Committee, is full of confidence.

Author: Shan Zhiqiang Correspondent Chen Yafang

Source: Fujian Daily