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News from Abroad

REPLACING GRAPHITE
Ferroglobe and Coreshell partner to deliver

battery-grade silicon for EVs

Coreshell, a US-based battery Mr. Benoist Ollivier, Chief Technology &
technology company and Ferroglobe, Innovation Officer of Ferroglobe.
a leading London-based producer of “When the right battery technology
silicon metal and ferroalloys, have partner and the leading supplier of silicon
inked an MoU to produce the first bat- to the US come together, breakthroughs
tery-ready metallurgical silicon for the can happen. Coreshell is a leading
development of low-cost, high-range technology company that has been able
electric vehicle (EV) batteries in com- to solve the raw metallurgical silicon
pliance with the US Inflation Reduction degradation problem and unlock the
Act. true performance of this element. We
are thrilled to partner with the battery
The partnership will enable the material innovators at Coreshell and play
leapfrogging of silane-based silicon our part in accelerating the transition
and the replacement of graphite in EV to clean energy in the automotive
batteries, which have bottlenecked the preventing its rapid loss of life while industry for everyone,” he added.
auto industry since the introduction of still allowing lithium ions to pass
EVs, creating cost and range limita- through. “Silicon is the only viable pathway
tions. to low-cost, long-range electric
Ferroglobe’s proprietary metallur- vehicle batteries that can be scaled
EVs suffer from significant cost gical purification process to produce rapidly using a 100% domestic supply
disadvantages for consumers and auto- up to 99.995% silicon is cost-effective chain,” said Mr. Jonathan Tan, CEO of
makers alike, with batteries compris- and does not use any chemical reagent, Coreshell. “The issue to date is that no
ing 30-40% of the total cost of electric a key technology for producing afford- one has been able to unlock the power
cars. Car manufacturers are interested able silicon active material. of metallurgical silicon, and the high
in using silicon in batteries because it cost and scaling challenges of highly
can store up to 10 times more energy “These innovations enable, for the engineered or silane-based synthetic
in the anodes than graphite. This could first time, the development of lithium- silicon anodes have prevented the
potentially result in a 30% increase in ion batteries with metallurgical silicon industry from benefiting from its true
driving range. dominant anodes that meet product potential. With Ferroglobe’s silicon
requirements for lifetime across a range and Coreshell’s technology, we have
According to Coreshell, its proprie- of applications,” the companies said. unlocked that power. We are simplifying
tary battery technology, featuring a silicon and stripping out the costs so
unique nanomaterial electrode coating, “We believe battery-grade, micro- we can deliver the lowest cost, long
is the only proven solution to mitigate metric silicon is the fastest path to de- range EV batteries in existence,” he
the degradation of micrometric silicon, carbonising the mobility industry,” said noted.

Kraton announces global price increase for HSBC

products

Kraton Corporation, a leading announced a general price increase “This action is driven by the conti-
producer of specialty polymers and of $220/tonne for all hydrogenated nued increase in raw material and
bio-based products derived from styrenic block copo lymer (HSBC) transportation costs,” the company
pine wood pulping co-products, has products with effect from April 1, 2024. said.

Chemical Weekly March 26, 2024 155

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