The scene of the conference
From April 9th to 10th, 2024, the 2024 (4th) Starting Point Sodium Power Forum and Luban Award Ceremony - 2024 China International Sodium & Optical Storage & Charging Conference and Exhibition was held in Hall 7 of Shenzhen Futian International Convention and Exhibition Center, with more than 600+ sodium & energy storage industry chain related enterprises signing in and entering the venue to go to Pengcheng Event.
The scene of the conference
In the meeting on April 9-10, a total of 6 opening ceremonies were held: the inaugural meeting of the PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance, the 2024 China International Sodium & Optical Storage and Charging "Luban Award" Award Ceremony, the special session on sodium electric energy storage application, the special session on sodium battery and energy storage intelligent manufacturing, the special session on sodium electric new materials, and the special session on sodium electric innovative technology, the following are the specific contents.
Opening Ceremony: The inaugural meeting of the PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance
1. Li Zhenqiang, Chairman of the Organizer of Starting Point Research / Secretary General of the PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance, delivered a speech
As the golden partner of lithium batteries, sodium batteries will play a greater role in accelerating lead-acid substitution, making up for the shortcomings of lithium batteries, exploring low-speed vehicles, energy storage and other application scenarios.
Li Zhenqiang believes that sodium electricity is on the tuyere, especially from the perspective of energy storage demonstration application, the project is increasing and the scale is expanding, which shows that the application of sodium batteries in the energy storage market is promising, and the future can be expected in the early stage. The end of the universe is AI, the end of AI is new energy, the end of new energy is energy storage, and the end of energy storage is sodium electricity.
Compared with lithium batteries, solid-state batteries, fuel cells and other battery technologies, sodium batteries have absolute performance advantages. First, it has the characteristics of ultra-low temperature and high rate, which is safer than lithium batteries and ternary batteries. The second is ultra-low cost, with the expansion of the market scale, there will be an opportunity to achieve 0.15-0.2 yuan.
Li Zhenqiang suggested that in the sodium electricity industry, whether it is positive and negative electrode materials, electrolyte enterprises, or battery cells and energy storage integration enterprises, they should take a long-term view, do a good job in 5 or even 10 years of planning, and deeply understand the sodium electricity industry, think about how to lay out the sodium electricity industry, and develop the sodium electricity industry.
In terms of sodium battery market space, Li Zhenqiang said that there are three main ones: the first is to replace lead-acid in the short and medium term, which is a task that lithium batteries cannot complete; secondly, batteries in special scenarios and special environments, sodium batteries are more common than lithium batteries, less expensive, and have a wider range of applications; and finally, lithium batteries are mixed with sodium batteries. For example, CATL has given AB solutions, including HEVs and PHEVs in the automotive field, is it possible to replace sodium electricity? He believes that in these 100 billion-level markets, it is entirely possible for the sodium battery industry to recreate ABC companies (lithium battery ABC: ATL, BYD, CATL).
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Starting Point Research / Li Zhenqiang, Secretary General of the PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance
2. Dr. Guo Chuntai, Honorary Chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/Chairman of Lanjing New Energy, delivered a speech
Guo Chuntai first congratulated the successful convening of the 4th Starting Point Sodium Power Forum and the inaugural meeting of the PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance.
He said that photovoltaic storage and charging is a key track for global energy innovation, and it is also the only way for the mainland to implement the "dual carbon" strategy for large-scale application of photovoltaic and wind power, and the future market size will inevitably be trillions. Lanjing New Energy will collaborate with the industry to innovate, work together to promote the high-quality development of China's new energy optical storage and charging industry, and provide strong support for the practice of new quality productivity and green productivity.
Dr. Guo Chuntai, Honorary Chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/Chairman of Lanjing New Energy
3. Wang Shaoping, Chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/General Manager of Easter Sodium Electric, delivered a speech
Wang Shaoping said that sodium electricity is continuing to expand the scope of application, and the number of application cases has increased significantly since this year, such as the application from A0 class vehicles to two-wheeled electric vehicles, from megawatt demonstration projects to 100 megawatt projects, etc., the industrialization has been significantly accelerated, and sodium electric energy storage has also been separately listed in the policies issued by governments at all levels. In addition, on the material side, various subdivisions have collaborated with each other to solve the shortcomings of the battery production process, and R&D innovation and production capacity improvement are very obvious.
Although there are still some difficulties in the price of sodium electricity, Wang Shaoping believes that enterprises that adhere to sodium electricity will be at least two years and no more than five years, and will get rich returns. East will also cooperate with industry colleagues to contribute to the soaring development of sodium electricity.
Wang Shaoping, Chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/General Manager of East Sodium Battery
4. Qin Junguang, vice chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/general manager of polyfluorine and multi-energy storage, delivered a speech
Qin Junguang believes that the establishment of the alliance is an important measure to practice the five development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, further promote the structural reform of the user side, and accelerate the construction of a new power system with new energy as the main body. In the future, in this friendly family, polyfluorinated and multi-energy storage will also focus on the deployment of four core directions:
First, strengthen technology research and development and technical cooperation, promote the integration and breakthrough of optical storage and charging technology, and improve the technical level and competitiveness of the industrial chain. Second, establish industry standards and norms to promote the healthy development of the industry. Third, promote policy research and communication and coordination, and strive for more policy support and resource investment for the development of the industry. Fourth, expand domestic and foreign markets, strengthen international cooperation, share resources, and coordinate operations, and promote the national optical storage and charging industry to go all over the country and to the world.
With the joint efforts of members, the alliance will become a bridge connecting resources from all parties, an engine to promote the development of photovoltaic storage and charging, and contribute to the dream of global sustainable energy.
Qin Junguang, Vice Chairman of PECA Optical Storage and Charging Alliance/General Manager of Polyfluorine and Multi-Energy Storage
2024 China International Sodium & Photovoltaic Storage & Charging "Luban Prize" Award Ceremony
In this link, the winners of the 2024 Sodium Battery Cell Technology Innovation Award, the Most Valuable Investment Award in the Sodium Electricity Industry, the Sodium Electric Material Technology Innovation Award, the Sodium Battery Equipment Technology Innovation Award, the Sodium Electrode Cathode and Anode Material Supporting Equipment Award, and the Industrial and Commercial Energy Storage Technology Innovation Award were officially announced.
For details, click the link to view:
Special Forum 1: Special Session on the Application of Sodium Electric Energy Storage
1. Yang Weiyuan, Chairman of Jinna Technology: Jinna Technology Super Large Cylindrical Energy Storage Sodium Battery Conference
Yang Weiyuan believes that in the past one or two decades, the development of lithium batteries has been fundamentally affected by cost and energy density. The same goes for sodium batteries. Based on this, Jinna Technology is committed to building the first brand of super large cylindrical energy storage sodium battery, and has developed an industry-leading polyanion energy storage sodium battery.
Faced with many problems in the current super large cylindrical sodium battery, Jinna Technology chooses to unite top enterprises in various links such as raw materials, separators, electrolytes, processes and other fields to tackle tough problems together. The sodium battery mass-produced by Jinsodium Technology will be 15% higher than the cost advantage of lithium batteries of peers, and more than 15% higher than the cost advantage of sodium batteries of peers. The goal is to achieve 99% material utilization rate and 98% yield rate, which is the bottom line.
Yang Weiyuan called for the upstream and downstream coordination and in-depth cooperation of the whole industry, guided by customer needs, rather than guided by their own internal costs, to promote the rapid development of the industry.
Yang Weiyuan, chairman of Jinna Technology
2. The signing ceremony of strategic cooperation between Jinna Technology & Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Cooperation signing ceremony
3. Du Chenshu, Executive Dean of Veken Technology Research Institute/Deputy General Manager of Nanchang Battery: Introduction to the development and application scenarios of new electrochemical energy storage batteries - Veken sodium electricity
According to Du Chenshu, Veken Technology came into contact with sodium batteries as early as 2019 and established the Veken Sodium Battery Research Institute in September 2021. On May 27, 2023, the company realized the first G-watt-hour sodium battery production line in China in Nanchang.
Veken has the following advantages in the field of sodium electricity:
First, the first-mover advantage. Veken Technology cooperated with Shanghai Jiaotong University in 2019 to complete the prototype of sodium battery, which is the earliest sodium battery in our country.
Second, technical advantages. The company has 5 doctors and nearly 100 masters, and has been deeply involved in the vertical field of sodium battery research and development, and has developed sodium electric technology with an energy density of 150wh/kg and more than 6,000 cycles.
Third, platform advantages. Relying on the background of controlling shareholders and listed companies, Veken Technology continued to increase investment in sodium electricity to help the rapid industrialization of the company's sodium electricity business, and successfully realized the mass production of the first phase of Veken sodium power project on May 27, 23.
In terms of sodium battery development, Veken sodium battery currently promotes 4 products: two cylindrical products are 32700-4.5Ah and 33140-10Ah, and the aluminum shell is 72173207-230Ah and the aluminum shell is 50160118-75Ah. In the future, Veken will continue to develop power batteries with high energy density, energy storage batteries with long cycles, special energy storage products with ultra-high safety and low-speed vehicle batteries with ultra-high cost performance to meet the different needs of the market.
Du Chenshu, Executive Dean of Veken Technology Research Institute / Deputy General Manager of Nanchang Battery
4. Xia Yongyao, co-founder/chief scientist of Pu Na Energy: composite sodium iron phosphate ion battery materials and technology
Xia Yongyao of Pu Na Energy concluded: First, sodium-ion batteries have the advantages of low cost and excellent high and low temperature characteristics, which is a supplement to lithium-ion battery technology, which can be used as a reference for lithium battery manufacturing technology, and has entered the industrialization stage. In 2023, the market will have a variety of technical route samples, and in 2024, the technical route will be basically finalized, and usher in a period of industrialization scale expansion.
Second, the cathode layered oxide and polyanionic type are expected to go hand in hand, and Prussian blue materials will have opportunities after solving the problem of crystal defects in preparation. The oxide system has the advantage of energy density, focusing on the power battery, and iron-based phosphate pyrophosphate has the characteristics of low cost and long cycle, which is another preferred technology for energy storage batteries.
Third, sodium-ion batteries are connected to lithium iron phosphate batteries and lead-acid batteries, and various materials and battery technologies need to be further developed. The cycling properties of layered oxides, the energy density of polyanions, the cyclic stability and large-scale preparation process of Prussian blue materials, and the large-rate, high-capacity and low-cost hard carbon materials are all challenging topics.
Yongyao Xia, Co-Founder/Chief Scientist of Puna Energy
5. Roundtable Dialogue: Opportunities and Challenges in the Sodium-Electric Energy Storage Market
At the special session on the application of sodium electric energy storage, Yang Weiyuan, chairman of Jinsodium Technology, presided over the roundtable dialogue session, with the theme of "Opportunities and Challenges in the Sodium Electric Energy Storage Market", and the guests of the roundtable dialogue were: Du Chenshu, Executive Dean of Veken Technology Research Institute/Deputy General Manager of Nanchang Battery, Wang Shaoping, General Manager of Yishi Sodium Electricity, Xia Yongyao, Co-founder/Chief Scientist of Puna Energy, and Qin Junguang, General Manager of Polyfluorine and Multi-Energy Storage.
Click to view the specific content: Roundtable Dialogue: Opportunities and Challenges in the Sodium Energy Storage Market
Roundtable dialogue
Forum 2: Sodium battery and energy storage intelligent manufacturing
1. Qin Junguang, general manager of multi-fluorine and multi-energy storage: technology and application of large-capacity energy storage power station
Qin Junguang said that in the research and development and application of large-capacity energy storage power stations, most of them are currently facing problems such as potential safety hazards, high operation and maintenance costs, and short battery life.
In order to overcome the problem, in terms of the design concept of the power station, it is necessary to solve it in essence, from the aspects of battery cells/materials/platform/design, try to use AI algorithms, digital twins and other means to solve them, find problems in practice, spiral iterative update, and finally achieve better development; on the other hand, in terms of material selection, the safety of the head enterprises in the battery cell is more guaranteed, and the battery quality is also more high-quality.
He also mentioned that the application of digital twins in energy storage products, from the beginning of the production of power stations, it is necessary to do a good job in the model, so as to achieve virtual imitation of reality, and can be compared with the real situation one by one, so that there will be a greater improvement in practicality and external image, saving a lot of workload.
Qin Junguang, general manager of polyfluorinated and multi-energy storage
2. Liu Jian, Product Manager of Shangshui Intelligence: Intelligent equipment innovation of sodium electricity from materials to battery pole pieces
Liu Jian believes that in the past, sodium electricity mainly continued the idea of the lithium battery industry, and did not find a very suitable track, so there was no very good development. Now sodium electricity should focus more on differentiated tracks to replace lead-acid batteries and form a complementary market for lithium batteries.
Since the development of sodium electricity, its core demands have mainly focused on reducing costs and increasing efficiency. In the cathode and anode materials, Shangshui Intelligent can provide a comprehensive solution for the planning of layered oxide production line and polyanion production line respectively. For example, the production line of layered oxide is very close to the production line of high nickel ternary, and Shangshui can provide mixers, coating machines and pulverizers.
In addition, in the manufacture of sodium electrodes, the traditional production technology has low efficiency, high energy consumption, and product quality cannot be effectively controlled, and it occupies a large space, which is only suitable for the small-scale consumer cell market. In response to this dilemma, Shangshui Intelligent has an overall solution for the manufacture of sodium battery and lithium electrode sheets, mainly focusing on automation, intelligence and integration, including the automatic feeding system of the three-dimensional warehouse.
Liu Jian, Product Manager of Shangshui Intelligence
3. Zhu Wenguang, General Manager of Abbisko Intelligence: Equipment technology empowers battery recycling
Zhu Wenguang mainly shared and introduced the development direction of intelligent equipment enterprises from three aspects: industrial and commercial energy storage, battery recycling, and intelligent informatization.
In terms of industrial and commercial energy storage, he said that the driving force for the rapid development of industrial and commercial energy storage in the past two years is mainly 1. peak-to-valley price difference, 2. power rationing anxiety, 3. green power certificate, and 4. power transmission through partitions. In terms of battery recycling, whether it is lead-acid, lithium battery, or sodium battery, it will eventually move towards the recycling sector. At present, Abbisko Intelligent uses gold dismantling, which is to screen out the metal more subdivided, and separate copper, aluminum, and pole pieces for refining. In terms of intelligent informatization, Zhu Wenguang said that MaaS systems, ERP systems, digital twins, etc., all involve intelligent manufacturing and informatization, which is the general trend of the future, not only the lithium battery industry, sodium battery industry, new energy industry, but also other industries to take this direction.
Due to the large difference in the structure and material system of the battery, and the investment is not the same, Zhu Wenguang suggested that as an equipment company, it should take the flexible route and develop more flexible and compatible products, so that the investment of all parties in the equipment is more reasonable.
Zhu Wenguang, general manager of Abbisko Intelligence
4. Fan Xiaoyou, Director of Key Account Department of Rute Group: Wet grinding process and case sharing of cathode of sodium-ion battery
Fan Xiaoyou said that wet grinding is mainly a dispersed grinding system composed of dispersion + grinding, that is, the powder is mixed with the solvent in an appropriate proportion, and the product is ground to reach the target particle size after dispersion to form a uniform suspension. At present, fine chemicals, lithium iron phosphate and sodium electricity will face this problem, and the company has done basic research for many years for the wet pulping process section.
As an equipment manufacturer, from the perspective of process solution, Rute pays more attention to the entire process system, for example, whether the previous dispersion system is in place and thorough, and whether the matching grinding can play a good efficiency. The combination of the two is the complete process.
Founded in 2012, Rute focuses on high-end intelligent equipment and smart factory turnkey services, and has always been committed to becoming a double first-class enterprise in the core intelligent equipment manufacturing and smart factory in the field of fine chemicals and new materials in the world. Over the years, Zhimo New Materials has taken nano zirconia and nano alumina as product entry points, and has continuously extended horizontally and vertically to the field of new materials, and is committed to becoming a platform enterprise in the field of nano new materials. The company has 150 acres of manufacturing base, and currently undertakes sodium electricity, including lithium iron phosphate production line, in addition to the core kiln, spray drying, jet grinding three major pieces of equipment, the other 90% are to achieve their own product self-made.
Fan Xiaoyou, Director of Key Account Department of Rute Group
5. Jiang Guangming, deputy general manager of Guoxing New Energy: How can liquid bath baking equipment help improve the quality and reduce the cost of sodium battery production lines
Jiang Guangming said that sodium battery has obvious advantages, but there are differences between sodium battery production lines and lithium battery production lines, especially in the baking section of battery production lines, which still face many technical challenges. Such as material stability, quality control problems, process inheritance problems, cost-effectiveness considerations, industrial chain problems, technological innovation needs, etc. In response to the pain points of these drying processes, Dongguan Guoxing New Energy exclusively launched the contact liquid bath drying technology. Once the technology was launched, after so many years of verification, it was known as the black technology product in the baking industry for its good baking effect, high baking efficiency and high energy saving.
According to reports, Dongguan Guoxing new energy liquid bath equipment uses oil and water as heat carriers, which has obvious advantages. First, the specific heat capacity. It has high heat capacity and thermal conductivity, and second, chemical stability. The chemical behavior of water and oil in various environments is very stable, and thirdly, it is convenient and easy to control. The heat capacity of a liquid can be easily adjusted by changing its flow, temperature or type; Water and oil are relatively environmentally friendly and cheap resources, which can reduce costs and improve efficiency; fifth, safety, there is no high vacuum discharge in liquid bath baking equipment, there is no risk of overheating, and can effectively protect the safety of battery cells; sixth, energy efficiency, liquid as a medium, in the process of heat transfer, will lose very little heat energy, improve the stability of the equipment.
Jiang Guangming, deputy general manager of Guoxing New Energy
6. Lin Yumin, CEO of Zhongjian Sodium Battery: Prussian blue cathode materials and sodium battery technology development
Lin Yumin believes that the development of sodium electricity is a very critical period, and in terms of price, it is the ceiling of sodium electricity, and lithium battery has reached the bottom, which means that sodium electricity will slowly rise.
The current energy density of sodium electricity is the bottleneck, and the cycle is the bottleneck, but after this period of research, including application scenarios, we will not look for places with high energy density, energy density is not an advantage, we are in a safe direction, so although the bottleneck we do has low energy density, we are not afraid of it being low, just like lead-acid, lead-acid energy density is low, but it still sells better.
We will find out the appropriate application scenarios in these charge-discharge curves, what kind of voltage is more suitable for where, what kind of voltage is more suitable for combination, it is more appropriate to combine the voltage series, it is substitutional, and we find out such application scenarios. The second is improvement, due to various reasons, the industry still has a lot of room for progress in materials and manufacturing processes. The third is to optimize the electrolyte, the lithium salt of lithium battery is not only lithium hexafluorophosphate, other materials have also been developed, and sodium electricity has also been innovated with synchronous electrolyte.
Lin Yumin, CEO of Zhongjian Sodium Electric
7. Roundtable Dialogue: Bottlenecks in Intelligent Manufacturing of Sodium Batteries and Consistency Improvement of Yield Rate
At the special session on sodium battery and energy storage intelligent manufacturing, Lin Yumin, CEO of Zhongjian Sodium Battery, presided over the roundtable dialogue session, the theme is: the bottleneck of sodium battery intelligent manufacturing and yield rate consistency improvement, and the roundtable dialogue guests are: Liu Jian, product manager of Shangshui Intelligence, Zhu Wenguang, general manager of Abbisko Intelligence, Fan Xiaoyou, sales director of Rute Group, and Jiang Guangming, deputy general manager of Guoxing New Energy
Click to view the specific content: Roundtable Dialogue: Bottleneck of Sodium Battery Intelligent Manufacturing and Yield Rate Consistency Improvement
Pictured: Roundtable dialogue
Forum 3: Special Session on New Materials for Sodium Electricity
1. Dr. Chen Xiaoyang, Deputy Director of R&D of Jiana Energy: Research on the sodium storage mechanism and industrialization of biomass hard carbon materials
Chen Xiaoyang pointed out that the current energy structure of thermal power generation is difficult to meet the requirements of the dual carbon goal, and the large-scale development of new energy storage, such as electrochemical energy storage, is an inevitable trend. However, due to the limitation of lithium resources, sodium-ion batteries have become the best supplement to lithium batteries due to their abundant resources, low price and excellent performance. In addition, the current production equipment of sodium batteries is compatible with lithium batteries, so the mass production conditions are relatively mature and have very broad application prospects.
Chen Xiaoyang said that in recent years, Jia Na Energy has analyzed and compared the hard carbon sodium storage mechanisms of different structures, and proposed a more universal mechanism, namely the "adsorption-embedding/filling" hybrid mechanism, which can develop and design hard carbon materials with different structures to meet different needs. At the level of hard carbon industrialization, Jiana Energy has formed a biomass-based technical production route. At present, the company has launched 3 products, which are suitable for different fields such as low-speed two-wheeled vehicles and energy storage.
Dr. Xiaoyang Chen, Deputy Director of R&D of JiaNa Energy
2. Chief Scientist of Ruiyang New Energy/Professor Zhao Xinbing, Zhejiang University: Industrialization Exploration of Sodium Iron Phosphate Pyrophosphate Cathode Materials
Professor Zhao Xinbing believes that the development of the industry cannot be restricted by price fluctuations, and from this point of view, sodium-ion batteries have advantages in safety, heat discharge resistance, material cost, etc., which are beneficial to the development of the industry. At the same time, Professor Zhao Xinbing attaches the most importance to the low-temperature performance of sodium-ion batteries, and he said that the development of sodium electricity should make full use of its strengths and avoid its weaknesses, that is, give full play to the advantages of sodium electricity, and do not compete with lithium-ion batteries for energy density, especially do not promote sodium batteries in high energy density occasions.
According to the characteristics of sodium-ion batteries, Professor Zhao Xinbing believes that the industrial feasibility, cycling performance and safety performance of polyanion cathode materials are the best, and they are more suitable for cathode materials for sodium batteries to develop their strengths and avoid weaknesses.
Finally, Professor Zhao Xinbing said that every battery has its market, and there is no substitution and replacement. The development of sodium electricity should follow the law of "not trying to replace lithium battery, not being restricted by lithium battery, giving full play to its own advantages, and committed to market expansion".
Chief Scientist of Ruiyang New Energy/Professor Zhao Xinbing, Zhejiang University
3. Yang Jinbei, Technical Director of Pushida: Development and industrialization of biomass hard carbon and precursor materials
Yang Jinbei said that there are three main sources of hard carbon: one is biomass, the other is organic polymers, and the third is fossil fuels. Pushida has done research on hard carbon from coconut shells, rice husks, and bamboo, because these raw materials are not seasonal and easy to obtain, which is renewable and large enough to support the market.
It is worth mentioning that Pushida also makes phenolic resins, but the cost is very high, and it can be used in high-end markets. In the field of fossil fuels, the company has made asphalt-based and coal, and in the future, the company will reduce the cost lower through subsequent process adjustments, which is more in line with the trend of sodium electricity.
According to Yang Jinbei, Pushida has a total of 4 companies, of which 3 are in China, located in Jiangsu, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Indonesia. There will be 5,000 tonnes of capacity in April this year, of which 3,000 tonnes will be given to hard carbon. In addition, the company has more than 10 related patent applications, and has more than 80 finished product and precursor sales customers and finished product sample delivery customers.
Pushida Technical Director Yang Jinbei
4. Huana New Materials/Xiamen University Zhao Jinbao: Stability of cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries in the atmospheric environment
Zhao Jinbao summarized that the stability of sodium battery cathode materials can be summarized in several points: first, compared with the cathode materials of lithium-ion batteries, the storage stability of sodium electrocathode materials under atmospheric environmental conditions is poor; second, among the sodium cathode materials, the phosphoric acid-based polyanionic cathode materials have the best environmental stability and can reversibly remove water; third, the performance of the sodium electrocathode materials of the layer oxygen system is seriously deteriorated in the atmospheric environment; and fourth, the use of sulfuric acid-based polyanionic cathode materials is inseparable from extreme dry conditions.
Huana New Materials/Xiamen University, Zhao Jinbao
5. Han Jiantao, Chairman of Tiannai Technology Co., Ltd./Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology: Hard Carbon Local Structure and Industrialization Challenges
Han Jiantao said that what kind of precursor to choose for the negative electrode determines the ultimate ceiling in the industrial chain. There are many raw materials to choose from for hard carbon, and it is difficult to answer which one to choose. As early as ten years ago, we built a low-level research method, that is, PDF research technology, which analyzes the underlying background of powder diffraction, the information from amorphous scattering, and then uses model simulation, and then analyzes the structure of hard carbon through data analysis. PDF analysis of the structural changes of hard carbon sodium-rich states revealed the mechanism of hard carbon sodium storage. We can rebuild a structure from the bottom to store sodium.
According to Han Jiantao, Wuhan Tianna Technology Co., Ltd. is headquartered in the East Lake Comprehensive Bonded Zone, with a 7,000-square-meter R&D center and pilot base, covering the research and development of positive and negative electrodes, electrolytes and cells. The total investment of the Hefei base is about 750 million yuan, and 50,000 tons of power hard carbon anode are planned, and the first phase of 2,000 tons of production capacity will be put into operation in December 2023. With a total investment of about 1.5 billion yuan, the Fuyang base plans to have a 100,000-ton energy storage hard carbon anode, and the first phase of 2,000 tons of production capacity will be put into operation in July 2024.
Chairman of Tianna Technology/Professor Han Jiantao of Huazhong University of Science and Technology
6. Zhang Lei, anode expert in the era of sodium energy/associate professor of Central South University: development and engineering application of low-cost biomass-based sodium electrohard carbon anode materials
Zhang Lei said that hard carbon has the advantages of stable chemical properties and low sodium storage potential, and is the first choice for anode materials for sodium batteries. The price of hard carbon raw materials such as phenolic resin and asphalt is high, and the production cost is also high, while the price of biomass hard carbon raw materials is low, low cost and wide range of sources, and biomass-based hard carbon is the trend of the application of anode materials for sodium batteries in the future.
Phragmites anode is a typical high-quality biomass hard carbon anode material. Phragmites reed has the advantages of wide source, low cost, easy planting and cultivation, strong regeneration ability, rich in cellulose and lignin, high carbon yield, unique honeycomb porous structure inside the rhizome of reed is conducive to sodium battery sodium ion deintercalation, sodium storage active sites. The resource recycling innovation team of Central South University pioneered a new process for the preparation of sodium electric hard carbon based on reeds in the world, broke through the bottleneck problem of foreign hard carbon anode technology, formed independent intellectual property rights, applied for 16 national patents, made a major breakthrough in the high-value utilization of reeds, and filled the technical gap at home and abroad.
Zhang Lei introduced that the 1,000-ton pilot line of the sodium energy era has been put into operation, realizing the tonnage shipment of the head customer, planning a 20,000-ton production line in 2026, and a 5,000-ton production line in the first phase. In the future, it is planned to achieve 100,000 tons of hard carbon anode production, which can absorb 50-600,000 tons of reeds, and the economic, social and ecological benefits are significant.
Zhang Lei, anode expert in the era of sodium energy/associate professor of Central South University
7. Guo Qitao, co-founder and project director of Huana New Materials: Progress in the development of polyanionic cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries
Guo Qitao introduced that the company has two sodium electric products. The first is a product of compound sodium iron phosphate, which is targeted at the energy storage market. It has the advantages of high safety, high rate, ultra-low temperature resistance, ultra-low cost, and long life.
The second is sodium iron sulfate products, which are a kind of polyanion, which is currently more suitable for two-wheeled vehicles. This product will be able to meet the cost of replacing lead-acid in the next year.
In terms of capacity planning, the company plans to transition from 1,000 tons to 10,000 tons until large-scale mass production. In December 2023, the company has completed and put into operation a 1,000-ton production line, and plans to expand the production of the 10,000-ton production line in December 2024 and a 100,000-ton production line by June 2026.
Guo Qitao, co-founder and project director of Huana New Materials
8. Rutian Machinery, Professor of Hunan University, Ding Yuanli: Research on polyanionic cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries
Ding Yuanli pointed out that Rutian Machinery mainly focuses on polyanionic cathode materials, and the company has also made several series, the earliest is sodium vanadium phosphate, but vanadium is not environmentally friendly, and may not pass the environmental assessment, and then gradually transitioned to manganese and iron, but the potential of iron is too low, and the more environmentally friendly is iron-based pyrophosphate and phosphate.
Ding Yuanli said that the scale of the pilot test has been completed and the planning and construction of the tonnage production line has begun. Sodium ferric pyrophosphate, the rate performance we do is also good, including the cycle stability. Sodium iron sulfate, the energy consumption of this material is very low, the production cost of the roasting temperature is very low, we can now do 1500 times, and also send samples with some battery cell companies, and the rate performance can be about 82C 90.
Rutian Machinery, Professor of Hunan University, Ding Yuanli
9. Roundtable Dialogue: Space and Pain Points for Improving Energy Density of Sodium Batteries
At the special session of sodium electric new materials, Professor Zhao Xinbing, Chief Scientist of Ruiyang New Energy/Zhejiang University, presided over the roundtable dialogue session, the theme is: Sodium battery energy density improvement space and pain points, and the roundtable dialogue guests are: Professor Zhao Jinbao of Sodium New Materials/Xiamen University, Dr. Chen Xiaoyang, Deputy Director of R&D of Jiana Energy, Han Jiantao, Chairman of Tianna Technology/Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Zhang Lei, Anode Expert of Sodium Energy Era/Associate Professor of Central South University, Guo Qitao, Co-founder and Project Director of Huana New Materials, and Qin Tao, General Manager of Rutian Machinery.
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Roundtable dialogue
Forum 4: Sodium Electric Innovation Technology
1. Chen Yao, Chief Analyst of Sodium Power at the Starting Point Research Institute (SPIR): "2024 Starting Point Sodium Power National Tour Research Report Press Conference"
In 2023, the development of the entire sodium electricity industry will be less than expected. As a professional industry consulting and media organization, the starting point sodium power also hopes to help the development of the industry, and has launched the 2024 starting point sodium electricity national tour activity, with the theme of the activity is: drawing an industrial map and shouting for the industry's "sodium". The event lasted for 30 days, divided into South China and East China, and visited and investigated 35 companies, including batteries, cathode and anode materials, electrolytes and other sectors.
Chen Yao said that in the 2023 and 2024 stages, the cost of sodium-ion batteries compared with lithium batteries has not been highlighted, he believes that the sodium battery at this stage is the highest point, but the price of lithium batteries has bottomed out, the cost advantage of sodium batteries in the future will be highlighted in 2-3 years, and it is expected that some companies will be able to reduce the cost of battery cells to 0.3 yuan next year.
Chen Yao believes that the significance of the development of the sodium battery industry chain for the lithium battery industry is: 1. Stabilize the price of lithium. 2. Fully control the safety of the industrial chain and solve the risk of lithium ore imports. 3. Digest the excess capacity of lithium batteries (cells, materials, equipment, etc.), improve capacity utilization, and use lithium battery cells, ternary cathode, and iron-lithium cathode production lines to produce sodium batteries and materials after transformation and upgrading. 4. Make up for the shortcomings of lithium batteries, lithium sodium is the golden partner (cost, low temperature, magnification, safety).
Chen Yao, Chief Analyst of Sodium Electricity at the Starting Point Research Institute (SPIR).
2. Dr. Liao Jianping, Director/Chief Engineer of Sodium Innovative Energy: Tailor-made cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries based on application scenarios
Liao Jianping said that the company was founded by a teacher from Jiaotong University, and in 2018, the company sodium innovative energy was established, registered in Shaoxing, and did a few years of pilot scale-up, and in 2022, it will put into operation a thousand-ton production line, and now it is building a larger 10,000-ton production line, and the location is also in Shaoxing.
The company's business is mainly cathode materials and electrolytes, which are supplied to battery cell manufacturing, and battery cells are then provided for terminal applications. However, the company also pays attention to the entire industrial chain and terminal applications, and then supports the development and production of materials from the terminal applications, with the goal and vision of building the entire industrial chain and the entire supply chain to promote sodium electricity in China and the world.
To sum up: first, sodium-ion batteries usher in huge development opportunities, second, sodium-ion batteries have excellent rate, cycle, high and low temperature performance, which brings advantages to their applications, third, different cathode materials can be considered for different application scenarios, and fourth, sodium innovative energy has strong strength to provide tailor-made solutions for sodium electric applications.
Dr. Liao Jianping, Director/Chief Engineer of Sodium Innovative Energy
3. Lu Jianhai, Chief Technical Engineer of Dongteng Lithium: Discussion on the development of sodium-ion batteries
Lu Jianhai believes that the development of sodium batteries has become an urgent matter due to factors such as the scarcity of lithium resources, the safety hazards of lithium batteries, and the high cost of lithium battery recycling. However, at present, the sodium battery industry has not yet completed the journey from 0 to 1, the technology and products are not yet mature, and it is facing a variety of painful problems, one is that the advantages and disadvantages of the materials of sodium batteries are more obvious, and some materials are not suitable for a certain field; the second is the uncertainty of the cathode material system; the third is the problem of sodium separation; the fourth is the slope of the working voltage of the sodium battery; the fifth is the consistency problem, that is, the expansion problem; and the sixth is the relatively low recovery value.
In view of the pain and difficult problems, Lu Jianhai said that there are three development ideas for reference, one is to develop functional batteries regardless of the cost, the second is to use the cost advantage of sodium batteries to directly compete with the digital market products of lithium batteries, and the third is to take the route of large cylindrical all-tab batteries to minimize the shortcomings of sodium batteries and give full play to the advantages.
Dongteng Lithium Chief Technical Engineer Lu Jianhai
4. Zheng Hongwei, General Manager of Zhuhai Nagan New Energy: Introduction and industrialization process of low-cost plastic-based sodium electric hard carbon anode materials
Zheng Hongwei mainly introduced a new type of hard carbon material, plastic hard carbon material. He said that at present, dozens of hard carbon companies in the industry have jointly formulated hard carbon standards, which are divided into four categories: resin, plastic, biology and fossils. The three traditional categories of hard carbon are resin, biological, and fossil. Plastics are divided into hard carbon separately this year, which is characterized by the use of plastic and waste plastics as raw materials, from the standard point of view, the specifications are relatively different from resin and biomass, and its advantages are mainly manifested in price.
The R&D route chosen by Zhuhai Nagan New Energy is to use plastics and plastic recycled materials as raw materials, through purification and upgrading, to produce hard carbon anode materials for sodium-ion batteries, with superior performance, capacity up to 300-330mAh/g, and the first efficiency of up to 85-90%. In 2023, the company will complete the laboratory pilot test and the pilot test of some process sections, and plans to build a small pilot production line this year.
Zheng Hongwei, general manager of Zhuhai Nagan New Energy
5. Tian Xiujun, General Manager of Zhongbi New Energy Sodium Electric Company: Introduction and industrialization progress of low-cost plastic-based sodium electric hard carbon anode materials
Zhongbi New Energy predicts that sodium-ion has great market prospects, and it is expected that from 2025 to 2030, sodium-ion batteries will become a trillion-level market. Zhongbi New Energy believes that the concept of sodium-ion battery supplementing lithium battery/replacing lead-acid is very narrow, and the decision should be handed over to the market, and allowing users to choose independently is the real benign development. The development of sodium electricity should not be kidnapped by the price of lithium, let alone the price of lead-acid.
Tian Xiujun mentioned that at this stage, the mainstream positive electrode is layered oxide, polyanion and Prussian blue, and the negative electrode is dominated by hard carbon. Among them, the gram capacity of layered oxide is relatively high, the energy density is relatively large, and it is more suitable for the small power market, its ultimate high-rate application market is suitable for start-stop batteries, and the ultimate low-temperature performance is suitable for northern application scenarios, such as northern battery cars.
In terms of battery form, Tian Xiujun, general manager of Sino-Belgian New Energy Sodium Electric Company, believes that layered oxide has the problem of gas production, and it is more suitable for cylindrical systems, but sodium itself has a lower energy density than lithium battery, and the energy density of small cylinders is a short board. In order to make up for this shortcoming, the battery needs to be made bigger on the monomer, and now the large square should have better matching, so the large square polyanion may have better application prospects in energy storage.
Tian Xiujun, general manager of Sino-Belgian New Energy Sodium Power Company
6. Jacky Gao, R&D instructor of GCL Supramolecular Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.: Introduction to the application of sodium battery electrolyte
Gao Xueyou, R&D instructor of GCL Supramolecular Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., believes that the overall development idea of sodium battery electrolyte mainly includes four aspects: 1. ion transport, 2. desolvation energy, 3. electrochemical stability, and 4. sodium salt performance. The focus is on looking at the layered oxides. At present, the layered oxides are mainly made of PC, EMC, DEC systems, and the sodium salt is lithium hexafluorophosphate, and GCL also uses other sodium salts to supplement it, and construct different electrolytes for different systems, such as fast charging and low temperature.
At the same time, Mr. Gao focused on the deep eutectic electrolyte, it is reported that the deep eutectic electrolyte is mainly used as a eutectic additive, the second is as a pure eutectic electrolyte, the third is a solid electrolyte, and the fourth is the development of eutectic co-solvent.
Sodium electrodeep eutectic electrolyte-XY019G1 has high safety, high electrochemical window, high interface stability, high rate fast charge, and long cycle stability. When the deep eutectic electrolyte is added to the battery, the flame retardancy is very good and has no effect on the other properties of the battery.
Jacky Gao believes that at present, the new energy materials built with supramolecular systems are mainly lithium/sodium-ion battery deep eutectic electrolytes, the development of phosphorus-containing materials, the use of DES for battery recycling, the development of next-generation photovoltaic materials, and the refining of precious metals. The technical advantages and technical potential of supramolecular technology are difficult to study, its application potential is huge, and there is a large application market in medicine, military industry, and electrolyte.
GCL Supramolecular Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. R&D instructor Jacky Gao
7. Roundtable Dialogue: Are Sodium Batteries Safer Than Lithium Batteries?
At the special session on sodium electric innovative technology, Chen Yao, chief analyst of sodium electricity of the Starting Point Research Institute (SPIR), presided over the roundtable dialogue session, with the theme of "Are sodium batteries safer than lithium batteries?" The roundtable dialogue guests are: Dr. Liao Jianping, director/chief engineer of sodium innovative energy, Lu Jianhai, chief technical engineer of Dongteng Lithium, Zheng Hongwei, general manager of Zhuhai Nagan New Energy, Tian Xiujun, general manager of Zhongbi New Energy Sodium Electric Company, and Gao Xueyou, R&D instructor of GCL Supramolecular Technology (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.
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Roundtable dialogue
So far, the 2-day Golden Sodium Technology Title-2024 (4th) Starting Point Sodium Power Forum and Luban Award Ceremony has come to a successful conclusion!