Sarytogan Graphite (ASX: SGA) has added another string to its bow, with lead acid batteries using anodes made from product from its namesake project in Kazakhstan showing a superior discharge capacity than control results in recent testing.
Management says lead acid batteries provide about half of the world’s rechargeable power, with graphite used in the product sold at between US$12,000 (AU$18,170) per tonne and US$20,000 (AU$30,290). The battery anodes are made using ultra-high-purity fines (UHPF), a byproduct of the company’s process of creating uncoated spheroidised purified graphite (USPG) and coated spheroidised purified graphite (CSPG).
Sarytogan says its American technology partner manufactured lead acid battery cells using UHPF from its Kazakhstan project. The performance of the lead acid batteries was measured to have a higher and more consistent discharge capacity when compared to control batteries manufactured with a leading expanded delaminated graphite product.
Management says it is pursuing three potential product revenue streams in relatively equal portions. The first is a microcrystalline graphite at about 80 per cent to 85 per cent carbon to be sold for use in traditional industries including refractories, crucibles, foundries, pencils and lubricants.
The remaining two thirds will be split and made available to produce USPG for lithium-ion, alkaline and now also lead battery anodes, in addition to UHPF for advanced industrial uses including the nuclear industry and as a cathode activity enhancer for batteries.
The revenue-generating products will be created from its high-grade mineral resource at its Kazakhstan project of 229 million tonnes at an impressive 28.9 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC).
Lithium-ion batteries rightly grab the headlines due to their enormous forecast growth for electric vehicles. The unique attribute of Sarytogan Graphite is that its inverted flowsheet purifies the graphite ahead of spheroidisation generating Ultra-High-Purity Fines as a byproduct. Sarytogan UHPF has been demonstrated to be suitable for use in alkaline batteries, lithium primary batteries and now lead acid batteries, all markets which command premium pricing. Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory
The company says the most widely used battery chemistry in the world is for lead acid batteries. Its market generated some 450 gigawatt hours of capacity in 2021 in 300 million batteries. About 200 to 250 grams of carbon or graphite is added to each battery for a total market size of 60,000 to 75,000 tonnes per annum.
Earlier this year, management revealed that USPG from its Sarytogan graphite project had been successfully used to produce lithium-ion batteries that showed consistently superior capacity compared to many synthetic graphite anodes currently used in electric vehicles (EVs). Utilising CSPG, the coin-cell batteries have now cycled 100 times and recorded reversible capacity of 354mAh/g – clearly exceeding the levels of many synthetic graphite products used in anodes for EVs.
Management says the addition of CSPG to its product offering is expected to boost its plans for direct relationships with battery and original equipment manufacturers in Europe and America.
The news came on the back of Sarytogan announcing that product purified to 99.999 per cent from its Kazakhstan project had been cleared for use in nuclear reactors after meeting strict equivalent boron content (EBC) criteria. The purified graphite, referred to as “five nines”, has been assayed at 1.1 parts per million EBC, which is well below the maximum 2ppm specification for the highest-purity nuclear graphite.
With market options for its high-quality graphite continuing to grow, the market will be keeping a close eye out for Sarytogan’s upcoming prefeasibility study that is on track for release before the end of September.
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