Online Round Table: Graphite Processing
Online Round Table: Graphite Processing ‐ a new approach to produce Critical Minerals and enhance Strategic Autonomy
Graphite is a critical mineral that is often overlooked by geopolitical analysts. However, it is an essential ingredient in the energy transition and key industrial sectors like steel production. The commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement, the European Green Deal, and COP26 have urged countries and companies all over the world to adapt to the set climate change goals and reach carbon neutrality as soon as possible. As a consequence of this, demand for graphite is projected to grow almost 350% from 2022 volumes to reach almost 3,6 million tons in demand by 2030.
At the same time, the Western world acknowledges that the already established dominance of China over value chains of technologies that require critical materials, asks for action and commitment of both governments and businesses. The US government is taking steps to reach these goals. In the EU this ambition is labelled as ‘open strategic autonomy’, and currently receives high political attention.
Although graphite can be found in nature, much of it today is synthetically produced using petroleum cokes, a residual product from petroleum refining. The process to produce synthetic graphite is energy intensive and environmentally unfriendly. Today, China dominates the production of graphite. More than 80% of all graphite produced in the world is produced in ways that would not pass the ESG requirements in Western countries. However, new and innovative processing methods developed by Western companies outside of China are now available, enabling cleaner and more efficient production of high quality graphite that can be deployed in the energy transition.
In this Round Table, top experts from the battery industry, graphite production and capital markets discuss and explain the relevance and opportunities of new graphite processing technology.
Speakers:
-Nico Cuevas, CEO of Urbix
-James Clark, VP Strategic Supply Chain Freyr Battery
-Matt Fernley, Managing Director Battery Materials Review
-Jeff Townsend, CEO Critical Minerals Association
-Amrish Ritoe, HCSS Strategic Advisor, Co-author of the report “Graphite processing”
-Michel Rademaker MTL, deputy Executive Director of HCSS
For the latest HCSS research on graphite processing and supply chains: https://hcss.nl/report/graphite-suppl...
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