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2021

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08

Tips for Reactor / Mixer for Anode Material for Lithium-ion Batteries


Background
In the background of increasingly tight traditional energy supply and pressure of environmental protection, new energy has become an important strategy in China, which mainly includes wind energy, solar energy, biomass energy, nuclear energy and new energy for automobiles. Since 2017, S&L has provided high efficient mixing equipment that used to produce cathode active material (CAM), cathode material precursor (PCAM), anode material, lithium iron phosphate, ternary lithium battery for the mainstream electric vehicle battery raw materials companies such as Ronbay Technology, Shanshan Technology, Umicore Group, and Beijing Easpring Material Technology.

 

New energy vehicle power battery industry chain
New energy vehicle power battery for automobiles is actually lithium-ion battery, which can be divided into several parts: cathode material, anode material, battery separator, electrolyte and auxiliary material. The following is a panorama of the new energy power battery industry chain.

 

Anode material for lithium-ion batteries
The upstream of the anode material of the lithium battery is chemical products such as petroleum coke, needle coke, and pitch, the middle reaches of the anode material is manufacturing, and the downstream is the application of power batteries, consumer batteries and industrial energy storage batteries. The following is a schematic diagram of the industrial chain structure of lithium battery anode materials.

 

Production process of anode material for lithium battery
In this production flow, S&L provide pre-mixing mixer, a reaction kettle (heating kettle + cooling kettle) and the mixing of graphitized products.


 

Equipment from S&L
A. GBF High Temperature Cladding Kettle System

Horizontal High Temperature Reactor is a key equipment for coating and granulation of anode lithium battery material.


The whole equipment adopts horizontal structure, and the cylinder body is circular structure and welded with both ends head as one. The material is heated by thermal radiation from a external heating wire and maximum design temperature could be 650 ℃. The materials can be adjusted in multiple stages within the process range of 350-650℃, which can well meet the production conditions that require temperature changes. The internal structure is ribbon agitator, driven by a coupling with motor and reducer.

 

Advantages
- High Efficiency
  Wider inner and outer ribbon elements, stronger mixing, faster mixing time and good mixing homogeneity 
- Stable Working
  Coupling between main shaft and driving system does good to avoid vibration and shock caused by high temperature. It can also prevent the driving system from overloading.
- Low Residues
  Adjustable scrapers are used at both ends and bottom of the main shaft, which can minimize the gaps to have minimum residues.


   
B. WLDH Ribbon Mixer
Horizontal ribbon mixer is widely used in conventional lithium battery raw material mixing process, as well as the finished product after graphitization.


Ribbon Mixer consists of special U-shape body, ribbon mixing element, driving system and discharge valve. The outer ribbon pushes materials from two ends to the middle and inner ribbon moves material from middle to two ends. The convection movement will be created to get perfect mixing homogeneity of the material.

 

Advantages
- Soft mixing to avoid damaging the physical properties of the material
- Multiple choices of mixer body structure (U-shaped, droplet, cylinder shape)
- Double ribbons with tungsten carbide coating to isolate lithium battery materials from metal ions
- Special main shaft seal designed to avoid material leakage


 

Successful cases
Shanshan (Inner Mongolia) has an annual output of 100,000 tons of anode materials. Currently the production line of the integrated project has been completed. The second phase plans to built a project with an annual capacity of 60,000 tons of anode materials as well as 60,000 tons of cathode materials, with a supporting graphitization capacity of 52,000 tons, will be completed and put into production by the end of 2021. S&L Group has provided all the key mixing equipment for them and get highly praised by our partners.

 

To the future
Global energy saving and carbon neutral policies will drive the rapid increase in the penetration of new energy vehicles. 
In the long term, intelligent upgrades will bring about a disruptive revolution in the automotive industry, and bring greater growth space for new energy vehicles. Global sales of new energy vehicles are expected to reach 15 million units by 2025 and 23 million units by 2030. The global market demand for lithium batteries will grow exponentially in the future.  So far S&L Group has rich experience in providing stable and reliable mixing equipment for lithium battery manufacturers both in China and South Korea. We believe there will be more chances providing S&L service for the world!

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