The newspaper published “Lithium Battery Industry Pattern or Change” on March 15th, which is constantly attracting attention from the lithium battery industry. The April 15th Reporter made an exclusive second visit with Mr. Huang Ming, Chairman of Chengdu Huangming Co., Ltd., located in Chengdu High-tech Zone. A detailed survey was conducted on the progress of the industrialization of 10,000 tons of 50-nanometer grade lithium iron phosphate that will be produced in June and the progress of cooperation with downstream lithium battery companies. Because the company uses liquid phase method under normal temperature and pressure, it can mass produce 50-nanometer-grade high-purity lithium iron phosphate cathode material, which surpasses manganese in terms of high and low temperature performance, high power charge and discharge, large capacity, safety, and cycle times. Lithium-nickel, nickel-manganese-cobalt ternary materials and other existing mainstream battery cathode materials, its comprehensive alternative advantages are expected to change the upstream and downstream industry chain structure, reduce the cost of lithium battery industry more than 20%, the industry structure or ushered in a round of adjustment.

Huang Ming stated that, in order to fully release the high-power charge and discharge performance of lithium iron phosphate below 50 nanometers, combined with the company's accumulation in purification technology, the company has started the new production of lithium hexafluorophosphate-comprising electrolyte containing no hydrofluoric acid impurities. Process R&D is expected to be completed and industrialized during the year, and will gradually change the status quo of electrolyte transition dependence on Japan's imports. This means that if the nano lithium iron phosphate is used in the fields of power batteries and large-scale energy storage batteries, its high power performance and safety will be satisfied at the same time, especially the battery charging time will be greatly shortened, which will solve the problem of convenience of the power battery.

At present, the company's 10,000-ton production line in Guanghan, Sichuan Province will reach production in June. Currently, the company has formed some strategic cooperation intentions with the downstream battery plant. The impact of the large-scale industrialization of this technology on downstream industries is gradually expanding. Because the company's production raw materials require very low purity of the lithium source, the thinking mode of controlling the purity of the cathode material by the purity of the lithium raw material is broken, and the battery-grade lithium source with high price will suffer.

Since the end of February this year, the news first appeared on the website of the Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, which did not immediately attract the attention of the industry. Even after the scientific and technological achievements have been recognized by the country as the international leading level, many industry experts are still controversial and shocked. It is not difficult to find the reason for chasing it. In the past ten years, with the help of lithium iron phosphate technology and technological breakthroughs to realize the overtaking of China's lithium power industry, it was once a beautiful dream for China's new energy industry. However, a large number of companies and scientific research institutes have failed to make a success on this technology route, coupled with the lack of understanding of the inertial understanding of the defect properties of lithium iron phosphate and the theoretical defects of existing production process technologies, and questioning the technical route of lithium iron phosphate. The sound has already become a sea of ​​"negative consensus," and it is more reasonable that this news is overwhelmed by "consensus."

Perhaps the beginning of any revolutionary technology has always been controversial. In order to verify this fact, the China Securities Journal reporter and Chengdu Huangming Company have made contact and maintained full exchange and tracking. Huang Ming, the inventor of the technology, established a new theory of thermodynamic statistical physics for the "non-independent particle system" through a major revision and innovation of the classical theory of thermodynamics "Bose-Einstein" statistical distribution theory, and in the multi-solvent extraction method, high temperature back New breakthroughs have been made in the four processes of the crystallization technology, the gel temperature aging crystallization method, and the polar sieve filtration method, which avoids a large number of cumbersome exploratory experiments and is the first in the industry to complete the liquid phase material purification synthesis process under normal temperature and pressure conditions. It can produce lithium battery cathode materials with the best purity and consistency in the world and particles less than 50 nanometers in size, and has the characteristics of advanced technology, low cost, low carbon and environmental protection. This breakthrough is expected to reduce the cost of the entire industry by more than 20%, and significantly extend the service life of lithium-ion batteries, significantly shorten the charging time, and meet the requirements of capacity and power type. The large-scale industrialization will change the lithium battery. , lithium storage batteries and related application industry structure.

According to related data, the molecular structure of lithium iron phosphate itself has the characteristics of low cost, high safety, and high cycle performance. Lithium iron phosphate was once considered by the industry to be a breakthrough point for the overtaking of new energy in China. . However, the energy density and large-scale charge/discharge performance that determine its capacity have always been a problem that has plagued the industry. This raises many practical problems for the industry, such as the need for molecular particles to be small enough, the purity requirements to be nearly exacting, and the perfect carbon coating technology. And so on, these are bottlenecks that traditional high-cost, high-energy-consumption processes such as hydrothermal processes and solid-phase processes cannot overcome.

In order to make this dream come true, China has set off a round of research on lithium iron phosphate in recent years. Since most of the research is based on traditional theory and technology, billions of inputs each year have not brought exciting results, including adding The United States A123 company, Valence company, etc. of the research rank also did not make the satisfactory breakthrough. In this period, Japan, South Korea, and other countries successfully applied lithium manganese batteries to electric vehicles and gradually replaced nickel-metal hydride batteries. Most car manufacturers including GM Volt electric vehicles used manganese-based lithium batteries. This poses a serious proposition for China's lithium iron phosphate route, either breaking through as soon as possible or transforming it in moderation.

The pain of transition seems to imply that lithium iron phosphate has come to an end. Most industry experts and entrepreneurs even publicly stated that lithium iron phosphate may not become the mainstream cathode material for power batteries. Industry leading companies and listed companies have also shifted investment focus to manganese. Lithium or ternary materials.

Without breaking, Mr. Huang Ming realizes that the success of the lithium iron phosphate route requires not only new purification synthesis processes, new technical equipment and carbon coating technologies, but also the innovation of basic theory. To this end, he first revised the traditional "Bose-Einstein" thermal statistical formula, taking into account the intermolecular weak interaction force, accurately calculated the relevant data at various molecular levels, and avoided the need for repeated experiments. Acquire the detour of empirical data. In the purification synthesis process, the original multi-solvent liquid-phase method can control the purity of lithium iron phosphate under the normal temperature and pressure as required, and realize the carbon coating below 50 nm, and the lithium source The purity of iron, iron, and phosphorus source materials is extremely low, and the manufacturing cost is greatly reduced. This process technology can be widely used for the purification, separation, and synthesis of organic and inorganic materials. If applied to rare earths and vanadium and titanium, the significance will be very high. major.

At present, the lithium iron phosphate nanoparticles that have been produced in large quantities at present are not only stable in terms of parameters, but also have good results: As the lithium iron phosphate particles reach a uniform 50 nm, the internal resistance thereof is greatly reduced, and the high-power charge-discharge performance is realized. With a qualitative leap, the tap density in other indicators was 0.8-1.2g/cm3, the specific surface area was 20-50 m2/g, the g capacity was stable at 145-170mAh/g, and the work performance in the wide temperature zone was believed. The Quality Supervision and Inspection Center of the Department of Chemical Physics of the Ministry of Industry determined that at minus 20 degrees Celsius, its battery discharge capacity reaches 91% of its rated capacity, and when it reaches 55 degrees above zero, this ratio is 95%, and when it reaches 20 degrees above zero, the ratio 88%, wide temperature range with high working ratio can expand the application of lithium batteries; Cyclically, the battery after the cycle 500 times, the capacity of the rated capacity of more than 90%, while the single battery cycle test is still in progress, Only the current number of cycles completed can support the increase in battery life after grouping.

The industry chain faces a genetic reorganization. Currently, the company has formed an annual production capacity of 600 tons of nano-lithium iron phosphate in the Chengdu High-tech West District. The 10,000-ton industrialized production base established in Sichuan Guanghan Economic Development Zone will also be gradually mass-produced, and 3,000 tons will be formed this year. Production capacity, and is expected to achieve more than 10,000 tons of capacity soon.

Continuously accelerating the industrialization process will break the existing industrial ecological pattern: First, the alternative advantages are expected to reshuffle and integrate the cathode material industry, and the high-cost manufacturing routes such as the solid phase method and hydrothermal method will be eliminated; secondly, due to lithium The purity of the source material will be greatly reduced, and the upstream lithium carbonate industry will face a revaluation. The pattern of relying on the purity of the upstream ore to improve the performance of the cathode material will soon be broken, and the purity difference between industrial grade and battery grade lithium carbonate is no longer a determining factor. The overall value of base materials such as lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and lithium chloride, and the spread of different purity will be reassessed by the industry; again, the technical routes of downstream related industries will face re-selection, and a large number of downstream applications will be in lithium iron phosphate, Lithium manganate, ternary materials and other technical routes to choose between, and the comprehensive advantages of lithium iron phosphate will enable China to lay an important position in the field of lithium power.

In addition to cost and performance advantages, the lithium manganate route has become an unavoidable disadvantage due to its rare and precious metals, its environmental protection and safety, and its extremely limited reserves. The production cost of nickel-manganese-cobalt based ternary materials is The defects of green environmental protection are even more obvious. In particular, nickel is a toxic heavy metal during the production process. The cobalt element has radiation risks. These inherent defects caused by raw materials cannot be completely eliminated through technology.

In the upstream industry, impurities and carbon coating can be removed at normal temperature and pressure in the early stage of the liquid phase method, and impurities will not remain in the lithium iron phosphate precursor when entering the latter stage. This purification and synthesis process actually eliminates High dependence on upstream raw material purity. The upstream lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and lithium chloride industries will face revaluation, and the current high level of battery-grade lithium carbonate prices will be completely changed. At present, the upstream companies at home and abroad have invested a lot of resources in the extraction of lithium from brines and the improvement of lithium extraction technology from ores, and the demand promotion has also led to an overall increase in the price of lithium carbonate in recent years. In particular, the price of lithium carbonate at or above the purity level of batteries is high. Huang Ming's technology will enable upstream raw material prices to enter a downward-looking channel, and related corporate valuations will be repositioned by the market.

At present, the world's proven basic lithium resources reach 26 million tons. The impact of this technology on the raw material industry may be profound. The National Securities Research Institute once predicted that lithium battery demand for battery-grade lithium carbonate will exceed 40,000 tons in 2012, and will approach 80,000 tons in 2015, with an average annual growth rate of approximately 25%. As the dependence on raw material purity is weakened, the future demand and industrial value of battery-grade lithium carbonate need to be revised.

In the downstream industry, foreign lithium giants have entered the supply system of lithium batteries for electric vehicles in China through joint ventures or signing supply agreements. For example, A123 Company in the US, SK Energy in South Korea, LG Chemical in Korea, and Lynx in Denmark have entered China. market. At the same time, Japanese and South Korean companies have also entered the European and American hybrid and pure electric vehicle systems with the lithium manganate technology, but the global supply system has almost no shadow of lithium iron phosphate. While Huang Ming’s high-performance lithium iron phosphate is expected to break the existing supply structure, the market substitution effect of this new technology will be gradually reflected, and the supporting battery manufacturers are also expected to gain a foothold in the global market.

The experience of Chengdu Huangming Company shows that there is a possibility of cornering overtaking in all walks of life. At least in the frontier areas where there are multiple technical routes, the persistent efforts and the courage to break the inertial thinking may yield unexpected results. In the future, the company will insist on selling at a price significantly lower than that of other cathode materials products, creating a rare low-cost advantage for the rapid development and expansion of China's related supporting industries, and promoting China's lithium power and new energy industries to share more industrial value in the global system.