CSCC Eyes Li-ion Battery Anode Material Biz

China Steel Chemical Corporation (CSCC) of Taiwan, a major petrol-chemical processor, recently expressed optimism towards the future of the automotive-application battery market, though the firm currently supplies anode materials to lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery makers for mainly 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) applications.

L.M. Chung, chairman of CSCC, says that the company makes high performance anodes with good quality from coal tar pitch from the parent company China Steel Corp. The pitch is thermally treated to be mesophase spherules through chemical engineering processes, to derive Green Mesophase Powder. The particle size of the firm's anode powders is  controlled by process parameters.

Currently, green mesophase powders, a major material in the formula for making anode materials for Li-ion batteries, account for about 3% of CSCC's overall revenue, Chung says, but the ratio is expected to rapidly increase to 5% in 2014. In late 2013, CSCC expanded its production capacity of green mesophase powders from 3,000 tons a year to 5,000 tons. The firm now operates six such production lines, including four mass-production lines and two experimental lines.

Chung says that though CSCC's mesophase powder production capacity has not been filled, he decided on expansion to prepare for a boom in the near future, which will enable such business to be profitable with 70% to 80% equipment utilization rate.

The chairman analyzes that the anode-making graphite materials can be divided into the artificial and natural graphite, and the latter is a better choice. However, the artificial mesophase graphite made from green mesophase powders processed from soft pitch can generate superior performance than natural counterparts. He explains that Li-ion batteries made of natural graphite may expand after some use, which might damage devices.

Though many other steel makers' subsidiaries or affiliates have also ventured into the soft-pitch business, eyeing the Li-ion battery anode material market, Chung says that CSCC is better positioned. The chairman claimed that the quality level of CSCC's green mesophase powder products already parallels that supplied by JFE of Japan.

In addition to aggressive development of anode-material application market, Chung said his company also produces blocky graphite, which shields neutrons and is widely adopted by nuclear power plants and aerospace technologies (heat-shielding).

Chung has mapped out a development blueprint for CSCC to generate significant revenue growth by 2020 by rapidly building its core petrochemical related businesses, as well as newly diversified product categories such as anode materials.