China - September 02, 2024

China - Dateline : Recent

Storyline:
China accelerates lithium iron phosphate battery production

[Voice_over]

China is accelerating the development of its lithium iron phosphate battery sector.

Lithium iron phosphate batteries, also known as LFP batteries, are fast becoming the preferred power source for energy storage and new energy vehicles because they last longer, are safer and will soon be cheaper than traditional lithium ion batteries.

At the Guizhou New Energy Materials Innovation Center in southwest China's Guizhou Province, where there is rich phosphate resources, researchers say they've optimized the crystallization process for the production of iron phosphate, which has given them good results so far.

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Peng Hainan, research and development engineer, Guizhou New Energy Materials Innovation Center:

"In terms of capacity, the current theoretical value of lithium iron phosphate is 170. Now we can achieve 160 on our product. So basically we can say we have reached 90 percent of its potential performance."

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Other researchers at the center are working on ways to better recycle electric vehicle batteries.

As China has been driving electric for years, many NEV batteries are expected to be retired in the near future, prompting breakthroughs in battery recycling technology.

One method involves wet phosphoric acid purification technology which researchers say can recover 100 percent of a spent battery's valuable elements.

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Yu Xinxin, Researcher, Guizhou New Energy Materials Innovation Center:

"Our wet process mainly uses lithium iron phosphate black powder as a raw material. We need to first add in acid, such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid. Then we leach out the lithium and iron elements and filter them. After filtering, we got the lithium sulfate solution. We need to add sodium carbonate in for precipitation to get our final product, lithium carbonate."

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Authorities say the recycling rate of lithium carbonate, a key material in lithium-ion batteries, is 93 percent or above in the province.

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