Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Applications of Amorphous ...
Transcript of Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Applications of Amorphous ...
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply &
Applications of Amorphous Graphite
Kelvin Hu
President, South Graphite Co., Ltd [email protected]
Ⅰ Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Output, prices, market, resources, consolidation, trends of supply, government factor
Ⅱ Application of Amorphous Graphite Current application, new studies, purification, potential applications, outlook for A.G
Ⅰ Chinese Natural Graphite Supply
Questions from Industry Minerals
How was consolidation achieved in the amorphous market?
Can consolidation be achieved in the Chinese flake graphite industry?
What wider implications will this have for the industry as a whole?
How has Chinese governmental policy changed due to environmental concerns?
What does this mean for natural graphite exports?
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Market
Worldwide Output
Unit : tons
1070000
1160000
1176000 1190000
1210000
1000000
1050000
1100000
1150000
1200000
1250000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2010-2014, the world’s output quantity of natural graphite keeps a stable growth;
The world total output expects to exceed 1.2million tons in 2014;
There are difference gap between official statistical data and actual output in China.
World’s output of natural graphite Data Source : USGS
2010-2014, the world graphite price has been very unstable
Prices
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Market
Unit : USD
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2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Flake
Amorphous
Prices for natural graphite
Data Source : China Non-Metallic Materials Industry Association
Steel Industry consumes nearly 60% the natural graphite(flake & Amorphous) in China;
Annual Output of Carbon-contained refractory material is 2.5 million tons, which consumes
more than 300,000 tons of flake graphite;
High quality anthracite coal(low sulfur) is the main substitution for A.G during the steel
manufacturing.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Market
Prices
( Total : 56%)
Graphite used in steel industry
Refractory 70%
Others 44%
Steel Industry 80%
Amorphous Graphite
Flake Graphite
Recarburizer & HEM as Briquette 60%
Others 40%
Steel Industry 100%
Graphite
( Total : 60%)
( Total : 56%)
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Market
Price Analyze
Chinese steel industry is in the position of serious depression, although the output
wasn’t declined, the steel price fallen by 30% compared its level in 2011;
Chinese coal industry is in the same position, the price was falling by 40% compared
its level in 2011.
External factor (F.G & A.G)
Lots of investment have been made into graphite industry, the increasing on production
capacity was far more than the growth of demand;
The data of production and sales can’t fully indicate the balance in supply and demand, a
number of unreleased production capacity is the internal driving force which lead the
downwards on prices.
Internal factor (F.G)
Amorphous Graphite
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Resource
South Graphite
Amorphous Graphite in China
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
Chenzhou reserves 72.5% of A.G in China, the average fixed carbon is around 80%, the
highest can be 92%, which made it so far the best quality of the world;
The mining belt spreads in town Lutang, which is also the trade name for the products years
back to 1960s, the sloe company was ‘Hunan Lutang Graphite Mine’;
In 1990s, the Company went bankrupt , Large number of private miner went into the
exploitation;
With the ‘Golden Decade of Coal”(2002-2012) in China, the disordered exploitation went
into madness, with the output up to 1.5 million tons of A.G.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
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1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Output of A.G in Chenzhou
Unit: thousand tons
Data Source : Chenzhou Statistics
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
The madness illegal exploitation disregards the environment, even the safety of labor’s life.
Production safety accident happened a lot since 2002;
In 2007, an extremely cold winter(ice damage) attack Chenzhou, power supply were cut down
for more than one month, the production facility were ruined, the production stopped for
months, the A.G price increased by 60%(from 330.00USD to 530.00USD per ton)
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
In 2009, mines closed by local government.
In Nov, 2010, consolidation agreement signed between CNBM and Chenzhou Government.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
25th Mar 2011, foundation of
South Graphite Co., Ltd;
S.G spent 2 billion RMB(320 million USD)
to bought out all the resources from the
original miners.
South Graphite
Government Former owner
Resource
2 Billions RMB Compenstation
Take back license
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Amorphous Graphite
In 2012, the consolidation successfully achieved, South Graphite starts to re-plan & re-built
the production system accordingly.
Plans of production for South Graphite
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
South Graphite designed output capacity of output is 510,000 tons;
Output outside South Graphite is around 80,000 tons in China;
High quality products can only provided by South Graphite;
South Graphite keen to balance the output, prices & market share;
The Trends of supply on A.G will be stable according to the demand;
The demand & Supply expects to increase as the recovery of Steel & Coal industry in China.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Trends of Supply on A.G
Xinghe
Qingdao
Luobei
Jixi
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Flake Graphite
Resource
Existing Resource
New Resource
Flake Graphite in China
The FC for graphite from Heilongjiang reaches 12%, which makes it the major supply base .
Xinghe produces large flake graphite.
Newly explored F.G constantly reported in the past two years
The output capacity for F.G is around 1.2 million tons,
The output in 2013 is 540,000 tons, 45% of the capacity.
The output in the first half of 2014 is 180,000 tons.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Flake Graphite
Data Source : China Non-Metallic Materials Industry Association
Output
Effectively consolidation can hardly happen in the near future.
There were some attempt of consolidation on F.G in China, with no effectively result;
Resources are rich and widely exist in China;
Low level of entry to the industry raises the consolidation cost ;
Local government generally put high expectations on graphite, and encourage the invest &
development on its own territory;
No leading company in the industry.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Flake Graphite
Consolidation
F.G will remain excess on supply for a long time;
New supply will continuously appear in China despite of depression;
China will remain as the major supply of F.G in the world, unless richer resources have been
explored outside China;
The demand & Supply expects to increase as the recovery of Steel & Coal industry in China;
The increase of demand on battery will not affect the supply & demand situation;
The global buyers will enjoy low price for F.G for the near years.
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Flake Graphite
Trends of Supply
Chinese Natural Graphite Supply Supply
Flake Graphite
Transformation and upgrading is the mainstream and expectation for Chinese industry;
The graphite industry is too much highly anticipated;
There will be more subsidy funds for graphite industry from the government;
Leading company of the industry expects to appear in the next three years;
Environmental policy will knock out few small player, and won’t affect much on the industry;
The custom duty expects to reduce as the recognize back to rational.
Chinese Government Factor
Questions from Industry Minerals
How was consolidation achieved in the amorphous market?
Can consolidation be achieved in the Chinese flake graphite industry?
What wider implications will this have for the industry as a whole?
How has Chinese governmental policy changed due to environmental concerns?
What does this mean for natural graphite exports?
Ⅱ Application of Amorphous Graphite
Application of Amorphous Graphite Status
A.G cannot be upgraded beyond 85% Carbon for high purity uses;
A.G is a form of low evolved graphite;
The structural properties of A.G are not suitable for refractories or batteries;
Research on A.G is far less than its on F.G;
The application of A.G is in low end.
Traditional Views on A.G
Amorphous Flake
A.G is widely used as recarbonizer and HEM in the steel industry, especially in Japan;
Synthetic graphite, anthracite coal, petroleum coke, are the substitutions for A.G;
The demand from steel industry is the key factor of instability for A.G;
Some of the demand from Japan switch to anthracite due to the pressure on cost;
Application of Amorphous Graphite Status
Recarburizer , Heat Enhancement Material
Refining Raw Material EAF
Recarburizer
Converter
Secondary Refining
HEM
Iron Ore
A.G used in steel manufacturing
Annual demand quantity from Carbon rod is 50,000 tons;
85% of the demand stays in China;
Dry Battery is commonly recognized as a sunset-industry;
There is no competitive substitutions.
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2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Carbon Rod for Dry Battery
Application of Amorphous Graphite Status
Output of carbon rod for dry battery
Unit: 100 million pcs
South Graphite supplies 40,000 tons of graphite
powder to Foundry & Lubricant in 2014;
Most of the demand are low-grade .
Foundry & Lubricant
Application of Amorphous Graphite Status
South Graphite has been working with Universities, Equipment Manufactures, Potential End
users to develop possible applications for A.G;
Finding the competitive advantage for A.G, either better performance or lower cost, is the
key factor of prospects.
Application of Amorphous Graphite Development
Development on A.G
Application of Amorphous Graphite Development
Development Partners
Purification is the precondition of further application.
Flotation to FC90-95% proved to be successful;
The cost for FC90% is competitive with F.G;
South Graphite expects to supply FC90-95% products to the market;
Continuous-High-Temperature Purification is the way to reduce the cost for high-grade
product.
Application of Amorphous Graphite Development
Development on A.G
Low Carbon FC70%-FC80%
Medium Carbon FC90%-FC95% Floatation
High Carbon FC99% C-H-T
Flotation: Improve the milling process and proper foaming agent;
Plantation about to start construction, expect to supply FC90% above A.G by the end of 2015.
Purification
Application of Amorphous Graphite Development
Raw Material Powder FC90% Ball-Milling Stirred Mill Stirred Mill
Raw Material Milling Flotation
Flotation Flotation Flotation
Competitive Advantage
Cost 20% lower than F.G on the same grade.
High Temperature Purification
Equipment is still debugging for industrial mass
production;
Low power consumption.
Purification
Application of Amorphous Graphite Development
FC In FC Out P/P P.C/Ton
90% 99% 3.5h 4176kwh
99% 99.9% 4.3h 5208kwh
99.9% 99.999% 5.2h 6250kwh
FC90% A.G performs not as good as F.G;
The Proper way is to mix A.G & F.G in composite;
The composite will basically keep the performance while the cost would be lower.
Refractory
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
0%
5%
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25%
Amorphous Composite Flake
Thermal shock resistance
0%
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90%
Amorphous Composite Flake
Anti-oxidation
A.G performance on MgO-C Experiment
The trend for carbon-contained refractory material is to lower its carbon content, which
requires it in small particle sizes, favors A.G.
Refractory
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Pics of A.G performance on MgO-C Experiment
Amorphous Composite Flake
Competitive Advantage
Cost 20% lower than F.G on the same grade.
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Route for South Graphite
Trial production with some partners, expects to widely used in 2015;
Refractory manufactures showed great interests in it.
The introduction of A.G expects to bring the cost down by 2%.
The granular size of A.G makes it easier to shape with lower loss.
A.G performs better rate capacity compared with F.G, which allows the charge-discharge rate
performance better ;
Theoretically aspect, A.G will have better potential in E.V;
Li-ion Battery Anode Material
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Industrial test is successfully conducted by TsingHua University & South Graphite;
South Graphite plans to invest on it in 2015.
Li-ion Battery Anode Material
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Competitive Advantage
Cost lower than F.G & S.G;
Better charge & discharge rate.
Isostatic Graphite is normally recognized as natural-graphite-not-related material;
Isostatic Graphite is the key material for some high-end equipment manufacturing;
Military- industry requires better quality isostatic graphite;
The Chinese government put it in the “strategy material list”;
The small granule size of A.G suitable for isotropy;
The cost will be lower than synthetic graphite.
Isostatic Graphite
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Isostatic Graphite
Application of Amorphous Graphite Application
Technical parameters Technical index
Density ( g/cm³ ) 1.78
Shore D 51
Flexure strength (Mpa) 39.2
Compressive strength (Mpa) 78.4
Elasticity modulus (Gpa) 9.8
Resistivity (μΩ.m) 11
Thermal conductivity (W/mk) 116
Expansion coefficient (10-6/K) (350-450℃) 4.5
Impurity (ppm) 50
Competitive Advantage
Cost lower than S.G;
Good performance.
Index for I.G made from A.G
Application of Amorphous Graphite Conclusion
Conclusion
The lack of study on A.G makes it negatively judged;
More & more scientists in China studies on A.G, which will lead to further break through
on it;
A.G shows spacious of potential uses in many fields;
The on-going invest on A.G will be more rational than F.G, which allows the industry
healthy in China;
A.G might be a big threaten for F.G in terms of the uses on E.V;
Isostatic graphite is the next high-end use for A.G;
South Graphite will keep on develop and invest the applications on A.G.
Q & A