Production Capacity Exceeds Million Tons of Lithium Ferromanganese Phosphate "Eve"

2023-09-05 09:44:53

Under the influence of various factors, lithium manganese iron phosphate is bringing about a new round of battery ecological changes.

The long-

called lithium ferromanganese phosphate has once again stimulated the industrial boom. According to the 374th batch of "Road Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Enterprises and Products Bulletin" issued by

the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, four models are equipped with ternary lithium-ion + manganese iron phosphate lithium batteries, and the supplier is Jiangsu Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ningde Times.

From the laboratory to the hands of mass consumers, lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries have officially started commercial production. Judging

from the capacity planning, mass production information and loading schedule recently announced by the major lithium power giants, there is no doubt that the first year of mass production of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is coming.

As a technology route that has been concerned for a long time in the industry, lithium iron manganese phosphate is regarded as the next generation upgrade route of lithium iron phosphate, which further improves energy density and voltage by doping manganese in lithium iron phosphate.

Some large battery manufacturers told Gaogong Lithium Power that from the technical point of view, the future trend of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is clear, and it has become the promotion route of major lithium power and vehicle manufacturers. In terms of

market background, in the field of power batteries, lithium iron phosphate occupies more than half of the market. From January to July this year, the installed capacity of lithium iron phosphate batteries reached 125.6G Wh, accounting for 68% of the total loading volume. Since the first half of this year, the sales of new energy vehicles in China have reached 3.03 million, an increase of 38% over the same period last year. The sales volume of PHEV models reached 92. As the main model of lithium iron phosphate loading, the rapid growth of PHEV market conveys the downstream preference for lithium iron phosphate route and the balanced demand of low cost, high energy density and high safety. With the upward

demand, the success of the iron-lithium route has stimulated the enthusiasm of material and battery manufacturers to expand production in the lithium manganese phosphate route.

In addition, compared with the existing pattern of lithium iron phosphate, the technology of lithium manganese iron phosphate is novel, the market is blank, and the first-mover manufacturers can take the lead in obtaining the product premium ability after commercial mass production. Under the influence of

various factors, lithium manganese iron phosphate is bringing about a new round of battery ecological changes.

From the point of view of technical characteristics, lower cost and higher energy density are the significant advantages of lithium manganese iron phosphate.

Benefiting from the higher voltage platform, theoretically, the energy density of lithium manganese iron phosphate can be 15% -20% higher than that of lithium iron phosphate; on the other hand, lithium manganese iron phosphate is doped with manganese, and the world is rich in manganese ore resources. Considering the reduction in cost per watt-hour due to the increase in energy density, the cost of lithium manganese iron phosphate is 5% -10% lower than that of lithium iron phosphate. In terms of

safety, the extraction of lithium from manganese phosphate still belongs to the phosphate system, and the thermal runaway performance is comparable to that of lithium iron phosphate.

It is noteworthy that lithium manganese iron phosphate has good low temperature performance. Under the condition of -20 deg C, the lithium manganese iron phosphate can keep nearly 80% of capacity.

This is not only a driving force for the development of the domestic electric vehicle market in high latitudes, but also in the international market, the new energy vehicle market represented by Europe and the United States is concentrated in the temperate zone above 30 degrees north latitude, which requires high low temperature.

It further extends to the selection of lithium iron phosphate route and ternary route in the international market. The international market has always been dominated by ternary batteries, which are expected to further expand the market share of phosphoric acid batteries under the condition that lithium manganese iron phosphate overcomes low temperature, has high energy density, low cost and safety.

In terms of energy storage, a core material engineer told Gaogong Lithium Power that lithium manganese iron phosphate can also be applied to the energy storage market, and the dual track of power and energy storage can enhance the market space of lithium manganese iron phosphate.

At present, domestic lithium power giants have been competing to carry out the layout of lithium iron manganese phosphate. Many lithium power enterprises such

as Ningde Times, BYD and Yiwei Lithium Energy have actively promoted the R & D and production of lithium manganese iron phosphate batteries, and many battery cathode material manufacturers have prospectively laid out the related technologies of lithium manganese iron phosphate cathode materials to jointly promote the industrialization process and application of lithium manganese iron phosphate.

According to the incomplete combing of Gaogong Lithium Power, more than 10 lithium power giants have carried out the layout of lithium ferromanganese phosphate, and formed a production capacity of over one million tons.

From the point of view of the whole industrial chain, the battlefield of lithium iron manganese phosphate has brought together the leading materials, batteries and even the whole vehicle. It can be seen that lithium manganese iron phosphate has been regarded as a battleground.

From the point of view of process characteristics, the mainstream production process of lithium ferromanganese phosphate includes solid phase method and liquid phase method.

The solid phase method has the advantages of simple equipment and process, low cost and suitability for industrial production, and has the disadvantages of uneven solid phase, difficulty in controlling the crystal form and particle size of the product and poor consistency. The advantage of liquid phase method is that the raw materials can be mixed more evenly at the molecular level, and the size and morphology of the product can be controlled. The disadvantage is that the process is complex, the reaction equipment with high temperature and high pressure resistance is needed, and the cost is high.

Based on the characteristics of the two production processes, solid-liquid combination will become the production trend of lithium manganese iron phosphate. Combining the production characteristics of solid phase method and liquid phase method, it can match the production requirements of different battery manufacturers in many aspects, such as environmental protection, mass production, cost and so on.

At present, Rongbai Science and Technology has realized the second-generation solid-liquid integrated production of lithium ferromanganese phosphate, and Dangsheng Science and Technology has also adopted the solid-liquid integrated production method. Lithium manganese iron

phosphate is evolved from lithium iron phosphate, but its technical difficulty is not low. Li Jigang, general manager

of Rongbaistrand, told Gaogong Lithium Power that a key process problem is that in the processing process, iron-lithium is a semiconductor, manganese-iron-lithium is an insulator, and the small particles of manganese-iron-lithium make the processing technology route difficult. The addition of manganese element leads to the change of the synthesis formula of battery materials, and then affects the whole production system.

Li Jigang further said that although the production process of lithium iron phosphate and lithium manganese iron phosphate is similar, it involves a series of processes and production line yield problems. Lithium iron phosphate needs to build a new production line to lithium manganese iron phosphate. On the contrary, lithium manganese iron phosphate production line can be quickly switched to lithium iron phosphate production line. The lithium manganese iron

phosphate is also matched with a series of modification technologies, including adding a proper amount of carbon into the lithium manganese iron phosphate for carbon coating, so as to prevent particle contact and inhibit particle growth; through ion doping, vacancies are generated in the lithium manganese iron phosphate lattice or the bond length between atoms is changed, so as to improve the electrochemical performance of the material; Through material nanocrystallization, the migration speed of Li + is improved, and the charge and discharge capacity and rate performance of the battery are further improved. The transition

from lithium iron phosphate to lithium manganese iron phosphate is an upgrade of the comprehensive technology system, which actually leads to the fact that there are not many manufacturers with the actual production capacity of lithium manganese iron phosphate in the current market. What is the impact of lithium manganese iron

phosphate on the current ternary and lithium iron?

Li Jigang believes that the emergence of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is not a complete substitute for the existing ternary and iron-lithium markets, but to make up for the shortcomings of the existing iron-lithium and ternary markets in terms of energy density and low temperature, thus enlarging the application scenarios of iron-lithium and ternary batteries. The manganese doping content of lithium manganese iron phosphate

itself is not high, and the idea of lithium manganese iron phosphate + ternary battery can also increase the application space of ternary battery, thus expanding the application boundary in the whole battery ecology. The marginal increment brought by the lithium ferromanganese phosphate market will also be far greater than loss caused by the substitution of existing materials.

Industrialization is accelerating

. Driven by the industry leader, the industrialization of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is still accelerating.

In fact, the industry's concern about the route of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is not a matter of the past few months.

As early as 2022, lithium manganese iron phosphate has triggered a wave of industry boom. In July 2022, Rongbai Technologies said it would quickly enter the lithium iron phosphate market through mergers and acquisitions. In July of the same year, Rongbai Technology acquired Tianjin Skoland, a lithium manganese iron phosphate company, at a price of 389 million yuan.

Before that, Ningde Times, Xinwangda and Yiwei Lithium Energy Lithium Manganese Iron Phosphate Batteries had passed the battery pilot test and sent samples to downstream car companies for testing. BYD's Fudi Battery has also started to purchase lithium manganese iron phosphate materials in small batches and is in the stage of internal research and development.

Unlike in 2022, the lithium manganese iron phosphate is tested in the laboratory or workshop. In 2023, from the upstream material manufacturers of lithium power industry to the downstream automobile enterprises, the volume of lithium ferromanganese phosphate has been clear.

Li Jigang said that from the perspective of automobile enterprises, from 400 km to 600 km, and then to 800 km, the technical iteration requirements of electric vehicle have always existed, and lithium ferromanganese phosphate is also a response to the technological upgrading demands of downstream automobile enterprises. According to the data

of GGII, the domestic shipment of lithium manganese iron phosphate cathode materials is expected to exceed 1 in 2023.

Rongbai Science and Technology said that the company has more than 80 customers of lithium manganese iron phosphate materials, and passed the examination of several power battery customers in the first half of the year. The four-wheel loading schedule has completed the summer test, and will enter the winter test in the third quarter. It is expected that large-scale loading will be achieved by the end of the year.

Rongbai Technologies also said that at present, the company's investment in lithium ferromanganese phosphate is less than 100 million yuan.

German Nano said that the company's lithium manganese iron phosphate material has passed the customer's batch verification, the product has undergone several rounds of testing and performance optimization, and is in the leading position in cycle life, energy density and other indicators. With the acceleration of

commercial mass production, a new round of large-scale loading of lithium ferromanganese phosphate is coming.

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Under the influence of various factors, lithium manganese iron phosphate is bringing about a new round of battery ecological changes.

2023-09-05 09:44:53