Media Watch - NVX related, page-4299

Phillips 66 UK - “we don’t want to ship needle coke to China and re- import it as synthetic graphite”

Brittishvolt - “we don’t want to ship the best needle coke in UK to China and re- import for our batteries”

Novonix - Pure Graphite phased growth to Europe 2022 to 2025 and beyond to co locate with battery manufacturers.

https://www.automotivelogistics.media/electric-vehicles/european-carmakers-need-a-circular-approach-to-ev-production/41802.article

Isobel Sheldon, chief strategy officer at battery technology start-up Britishvolt, pointed to the production of graphite used in the anodes of lithium-ion batteries. Needle coke is a premium-grade petroleum coke used in manufacturing graphite anodes and is being mined off the UK coast.

“Some of the best needle coke in the world for making synthetic graphite comes out of the North Sea and gets pumped to shore in Lincolnshire (UK),” she explained.“At the moment that goes from the UK to China and Mongolia, and gets milled, graphitised and carbon coated there, and sent everywhere else.”

That makes no sense whatsoever from a sustainability standpoint, according to Sheldon, and the process of making the graphite could be brought back from the Far East to the UK. Such a move would make the actual process of its productionless polluting, especially when using better manufacturing technology. With the existing plant equipment, Sheldon said 80% of the energy used to make the graphite is lost through the equipment, while only 20% goes into heating the material to process it. A more modern and efficient plant in UK could save energy on the production of the material and save the carbon output of shipping it to and from the Far East.

“We can put it here in the UK and we have the raw material available. We simply float it up the North Sea into the dock at Blyth [where Britishvolt is building its battery plant] and put it onsite next to the gigaplant,” she said.“ That is the best supply chain I have ever seen as far as reduction of carbon content is concerned for synthetic graphite.”

Sheldon said that the strength of the UK chemical sector and its material processing knowhow would benefit a more localised supply chain for lithium battery production, supplying the rest of Europe.