Media

BlackBeak said:

From the FAQ page here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_24_5424

If we fit into the "general" decarbonisation large-scale topic, these projects receive on average €120m each!

View attachment 71742

Click to expand...

But we could also fit here, which is only €64m on average:

Any grant of either size would be fantastic and eliminate some of the pain caused by political and court delays. I would consider it payment for damages by the political/judicial system for not making decisions fast enough.. anyway, let's hope we get any of this!

This is objectively v good news today.

I've started accumulating a position again because 40c seems like a good entry given this news. Starting small because the market's underwhelming reaction to this is keeping me hesitant.

There still doesn't seem to be a lot of confidence that Talga can deliver this project. I would expect a €70MM grant to send this above 50c.
If the full €70MM is awarded this = approximately 30% of equity capex funded and a significant reduction in future dilution.
Why isn't there stronger buying here?
The market must be thinking like me: we need more solid progress to regain trust and confidence in the company.



Positive tailwinds

• EV market picking up again (see TSLA overnight)
• EU exchange rates falling (debt funding cheaper)
• Enviro permit case progressing through the SC
• Local issues progressing. The Green Acceleration office seems to be effective

Concerns

• Banking the €70MM is not a certainty. I've reviewed previous EU innovation grants and about 93% of projects make it from "grant preparation" phase to signing (source: 30 of 32 signed & 15 of 16 signed). I don't know why projects failed at the last hurdle.
• Anode pricing & state of NG market is not recovering yet
• State of the EU battery manufacturing industry (a mess)
• Lack of news on Tal-Si (I think there is a possibility this is a fizzer)

BlackBeak said:

But we could also fit here, which is only €64m on average:

View attachment 71743

Click to expand...

Well well well and look what happened this morning LOL

I will make a collection within this post with the news from the Swedish press in the coming days.

"Talga gets green light for controversial graphite mine​

The mining company Talga gets the green light for a graphite mine at Nunasvaara södra in Kiruna municipality. In a press release, the company writes that the environmental permit has become legally binding after the Supreme Court decided not to grant leave to appeal." rbPW

"Talga gets environmental licence for controversial graphite mine​

• Talga has received an environmental permit for a graphite mine in Nunasvaara outside Vittagi.
• This after the Supreme Court rejected the request for review.
• According to the company, the environmental permit is the largest single decision for mining operations."

"Thumbs up for Talga's graphite mine in Kiruna​

At the beginning of April 2023, Talga was given the green light for open-pit mining of 120,000 tonnes of graphite ore annually, but the decision was appealed. Photo: Talga

31 okt, 2024
The Supreme Court announces that it has rejected an appeal against Australian Talga's environmental permit for a controversial graphite mine in Kiruna. The judgment means that Talga's environmental permit gains legal force and the Land and Environment Court of Appeal's decision thus stands.

Talga's CEO Martin Phillips comments on the announcement in a press release:
"We are extremely pleased with the successful completion of the environmental permit process. The anode project that Talga is now establishing in northern Sweden is crucial for Europe's energy transition and strategic material supply. We look forward to continuing to work in close dialogue with local communities throughout the implementation phase, to deliver sustainable, high-performance anode materials for the European battery industry."

The environmental permit, which also includes permits under the provisions for Natura 2000, was first granted by the Land and Environment Court at Umeå District Court in April 2023. The decision was appealed to the Land and Environment Court of Appeal, which decided not to grant leave to appeal, and then to the Supreme Court, which has now announced that the Land and Environment Court's decision stands. The environmental permit will gain legal force immediately.

Talga needs more permits to be able to put the shovel in the ground, but environmental permits are the largest, single decision for a mining operation.

According to Talga, about half of the active material in an electric vehicle battery is made up of graphite. Talga will manufacture anode material in Luleå using natural graphite from its own mining operations at Nunasvaara.

In a first step, the production of 19,500 tonnes of finished material per year is planned, which corresponds to about 270,000 electric vehicles per year. "
and


Our antis:

"Mining companies​

Green light for graphite mine in Kiruna​

The mining company Talga has been given the go-ahead for its graphite mine in Vittangi, which is located in Kiruna municipality.
Today 14:19


According to the company, the environmental permit for the mine has gained legal force after the Supreme Court chose not to grant leave to appeal.
Not everything is yet ready for the mine to open. According to TT , Kiruna municipality has said no to the company's zoning plan.
Talga is said to have submitted a request for a planning order to the government."
and

"Green light for controversial graphite mine​

Updated 12:49 p.m. Published 11:43

The mining company Talga has been given the green light for a graphite mine at Nunasvaara södra in Kiruna municipality. In a press release, it is written that the environmental permit gains legal force after the Supreme Court decided not to grant leave to appeal.

But not everything is quite in place.

"We are immensely pleased with the successful completion of the environmental permit process. The anode project that Talga is now establishing in northern Sweden is crucial for Europe's energy transition," says Talga's CEO Martin Phillips in a press release.

But not everything is ready. Kiruna municipality has said no to the mining company's detailed plan – the graphite mine is simply undesirable by the governing majority. Talga hopes to change that. A request for a planning order is on the government's table.

Which we have good hopes of getting through," says Cen Rolfsson, Talga's communications manager.

If Talga receives final approval, the company expects to have an anode factory up and running in Luleå, where the graphite will be shipped in 18-24 months.

About half of the active material in an electric vehicle battery consists of graphite.

The fact that battery manufacturer Northvolt is having problems is less important for Talga's plans. According to Cen Rolfsson, the company is in negotiations with about 40 different potential customers.
Read more: New permit from the Mining Inspectorate "

NV​

"How Europe’s big hope in EV batteries came unstuck​

Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlsson has blamed the state of the wider industry.

Europe’s ambitions to lead the world in green technologies risk fizzling out in the face of China’s dominance. The outlook is especially bleak when it comes to electric vehicle batteries, an important driver of the low-carbon economy.

Sweden’s Northvolt AB was long seen as a potential European rival to the giant Chinese companies that make most of the world’s electric vehicle power cells. Now the business is fighting for its survival after a series of operational blunders wrecked its growth plans.

How did Northvolt’s plans unravel?​

If it was going to have a chance of competing with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. and other Chinese battery giants, Northvolt needed to grow fast.
The company amassed billions of dollars in debt and equity, secured using $55 billion of contracts from some of Europe’s biggest car and truck makers. In early 2022, before its first site in Sweden had even begun commercial production, Northvolt managers were already planning a new factory in Germany. A further plant in Canada was announced the following year.
Making this high-stakes strategy pay off would require flawless execution. Instead, the flagship Swedish factory was plagued by operational setbacks and challenges in trying to ramp up production while keeping a lid on costs.

After selling its first battery cells in 2022, Northvolt’s losses tripled in 2023 to $1.03 billion. The company tried to woo investors that year with plans for a stock-market listing at a $20 billion valuation. But its growth strategy was already coming apart.
This year, to stave off a financing crunch, Northvolt announced a retrenchment, scrapping two cathode material production facilities in Sweden, shuttering a research and development subsidiary in California and seeking out new investors for a project in Poland.
This wasn’t enough to reassure its investors. Two weeks later, the company said it was laying off 20% of its workforce — affecting 1,600 employees in Sweden — and further scaling back R&D. It also cut into its core, revenue-generating business by pausing an expansion at the flagship Swedish plant and sending that unit into bankruptcy. The German and Canadian plants also face delays.

How did it go so wrong?​

The decision to grow aggressively in a range of battery technologies threw up a breathtaking number of operational hurdles. The plans encompassed not just a rapid scale-up of complex cell manufacturing, but the production of components such as cathode materials, the construction of new factories and a joint-venture with carmaker Volvo Car AB. Northvolt was even developing lithium-metal batteries for electric aircraft.
Bad luck played a part: There were reports of problems with machinery imported from China. And by moving so fast, the company appears to have compromised on quality, leading to a high number of faulty cells that couldn’t be used. In June, BMW AG canceled a €2 billion ($2.2 billion) order due to quality problems. Volkswagen AG’s truckmaking arm, Scania CV AB, complained about slow deliveries from Northvolt at the start of 2024.

Northvolt has also faced a string of health and safety issues, including worker injuries and reports of toxic chemical leaks.

Are Northvolt’s managers entirely at fault?​

While this was arguably a crisis of Northvolt’s own making, Chief Executive Officer Peter Carlsson has blamed the state of the wider industry.
There’s certainly global overcapacity in the sector: Companies have announced $1.1 trillion in investments in battery cell and component production between 2024 and 2030, analysts at BloombergNEF said in June. That’s more than four times the $242 billion needed to meet expected demand.

The mismatch signals a prolonged period of low prices that will favor suppliers with the lowest cost base. The excess of manufacturing capacity is driving record-low prices in the Chinese domestic market, where lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells can be bought for close half the average global price of $95 per kilowatt hour. There’s also a supply glut in battery materials.

Why is Northvolt so important for European industrial policy?​

The European Union’s Net Zero Industry Act aims for the region to be producing 550 GWh of batteries by 2030, up from 110 GWh in 2023.

Northvolt isn’t the only battery producer in Europe. South Korean and Chinese companies also have factories to serve European assembly plants being retooled to make EVs. But European leaders have made clear they want the region to be a hub for clean technologies, not a manufacturing outpost for companies that repatriate the profits to Seoul and Shanghai.
Northvolt has been their best shot at building a big, thriving EV battery business headquartered in Europe.
Were the company to fail, ongoing progress in battery technology could make it even harder for another European company to attempt the same feat. China’s CATL employs 21,000 engineers in R&D alone — a figure three times greater than Northvolt’s entire workforce.
China supplies about 80% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries, and is home to six of the world’s 10 largest EV battery makers, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. Chinese companies are even more dominant in battery components, such as cathodes, anodes, separators and electrolytes.
And China isn’t Europe’s only problem: The US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India and Indonesia are also looking to lure investments to develop their battery industries.

What about other European EV battery makers?​

It’s not Northvolt alone that is struggling. The entire industry faces a delicate moment after governments began to scale back the financial incentives they doled out to encourage drivers to buy their first EV.

As a result, EV sales growth is slowing and the auto industry is having second thoughts about some of the investment plans predicated on a rapid shift to electric.
UK battery startup Britishvolt Ltd. fell into administration in 2023 before it could open a planned £3.8 billion ($5.1 billion) site. Italy recently cut funding for a battery-plant project backed by Stellantis NV and Mercedes-Benz Group AG due to the recent softening of EV demand.
If Northvolt can’t turn it around, EU governments would come under pressure to effectively admit defeat and open the door for Chinese players to establish more factories in Europe in order to keep the region’s EV transition alive. "

cosors said:

I will make a collection within this post with the news from the Swedish press in the coming days.

"Talga gets green light for controversial graphite mine​

The mining company Talga gets the green light for a graphite mine at Nunasvaara södra in Kiruna municipality. In a press release, the company writes that the environmental permit has become legally binding after the Supreme Court decided not to grant leave to appeal." rbPW

Talga får grönt ljus för omdiskuterad grafitgruva

Gruvbolaget Talga får grönt ljus för en grafitgruva vid Nunasvaara södra i Kiruna kommun. I ett pressmeddelande skriver man att miljötillståndet vinner laga kraft efter att Högsta domstolen beslutat att inte meddela prövningstillstånd.

www.di.se

"Talga gets environmental licence for controversial graphite mine​

• Talga has received an environmental permit for a graphite mine in Nunasvaara outside Vittagi.
• This after the Supreme Court rejected the request for review.
• According to the company, the environmental permit is the largest single decision for mining operations."

Klart: Talga får miljötillstånd för omdiskuterad grafitgruva - P4 Norrbotten

Talga har fått miljötillstånd för en grafitgruva i Nunasvaara utanför Vittagi.Det efter att Högsta domstolen avslagit begäran om överprövning. Enligt ...

sverigesradio.se

"Thumbs up for Talga's graphite mine in Kiruna​

View attachment 72200​

At the beginning of April 2023, Talga was given the green light for open-pit mining of 120,000 tonnes of graphite ore annually, but the decision was appealed. Photo: Talga

31 okt, 2024
The Supreme Court announces that it has rejected an appeal against Australian Talga's environmental permit for a controversial graphite mine in Kiruna. The judgment means that Talga's environmental permit gains legal force and the Land and Environment Court of Appeal's decision thus stands.

Talga's CEO Martin Phillips comments on the announcement in a press release:
"We are extremely pleased with the successful completion of the environmental permit process. The anode project that Talga is now establishing in northern Sweden is crucial for Europe's energy transition and strategic material supply. We look forward to continuing to work in close dialogue with local communities throughout the implementation phase, to deliver sustainable, high-performance anode materials for the European battery industry."

The environmental permit, which also includes permits under the provisions for Natura 2000, was first granted by the Land and Environment Court at Umeå District Court in April 2023. The decision was appealed to the Land and Environment Court of Appeal, which decided not to grant leave to appeal, and then to the Supreme Court, which has now announced that the Land and Environment Court's decision stands. The environmental permit will gain legal force immediately.

Talga needs more permits to be able to put the shovel in the ground, but environmental permits are the largest, single decision for a mining operation.

According to Talga, about half of the active material in an electric vehicle battery is made up of graphite. Talga will manufacture anode material in Luleå using natural graphite from its own mining operations at Nunasvaara.

In a first step, the production of 19,500 tonnes of finished material per year is planned, which corresponds to about 270,000 electric vehicles per year. "

Tummen upp för Talgas grafitgruva i Kiruna

Högsta domstolen meddelar att man har avslagit överprövning av australiska Talgas miljötillstånd för en omdiskuterad grafitgruva i Kiruna. Domen innebär att Talgas miljötillstånd vinner laga kraft och mark- och miljööverdomstolens avgörande står därmed fast. Talgas koncernchef Martin Phillips...

www.industrinyheter.se

and

Tummen upp för Talgas grafitgruva i Kiruna

Högsta domstolen meddelar att man har avslagit överprövning av australiska Talgas miljötillstånd för en omdiskuterad grafitgruva i Kiruna. Domen innebär att Talgas miljötillstånd vinner laga kraft och mark- och miljööverdomstolens avgörande står därmed fast. Talgas koncernchef Martin Phillips...

www.metallerochgruvor.se

Our antis:

View attachment 72201

"Mining companies​

Green light for graphite mine in Kiruna​

The mining company Talga has been given the go-ahead for its graphite mine in Vittangi, which is located in Kiruna municipality.
Today 14:19
View attachment 72203

According to the company, the environmental permit for the mine has gained legal force after the Supreme Court chose not to grant leave to appeal.
Not everything is yet ready for the mine to open. According to TT , Kiruna municipality has said no to the company's zoning plan.
Talga is said to have submitted a request for a planning order to the government."

https://www.affarsvarlden.se/artikel/gront-ljus-for-grafitgruva-i-kiruna

and

Talgas miljötillstånd för ny grafitgruva vinner laga kraft (Finwire News) - Aktiellt

Aktiellt är en webbtidning för Swedbank och Sparbankernas värdepapperskunder. Här får du tillgång till marknadsinformation och dagliga analyser från Swedbanks experter.

www.swedbank-aktiellt.se

"Green light for controversial graphite mine​

Updated 12:49 p.m. Published 11:43

The mining company Talga has been given the green light for a graphite mine at Nunasvaara södra in Kiruna municipality. In a press release, it is written that the environmental permit gains legal force after the Supreme Court decided not to grant leave to appeal.

But not everything is quite in place.

"We are immensely pleased with the successful completion of the environmental permit process. The anode project that Talga is now establishing in northern Sweden is crucial for Europe's energy transition," says Talga's CEO Martin Phillips in a press release.

But not everything is ready. Kiruna municipality has said no to the mining company's detailed plan – the graphite mine is simply undesirable by the governing majority. Talga hopes to change that. A request for a planning order is on the government's table.

Which we have good hopes of getting through," says Cen Rolfsson, Talga's communications manager.

If Talga receives final approval, the company expects to have an anode factory up and running in Luleå, where the graphite will be shipped in 18-24 months.

About half of the active material in an electric vehicle battery consists of graphite.

The fact that battery manufacturer Northvolt is having problems is less important for Talga's plans. According to Cen Rolfsson, the company is in negotiations with about 40 different potential customers.
Read more: New permit from the Mining Inspectorate "

Grönt ljus för omdiskuterad grafitgruva

Gruvbolaget Talga får grönt ljus för en grafitgruva vid Nunasvaara södra i Kiruna kommun.

www.dn.se

HD-dom öppnar för omstridd grafitgruva i Kiruna kommun

De omdiskuterade planerna på en grafitgruva i Nunasvaara i norra Lappland får grönt ljus. Gruvbolaget Talga meddelade i dag att Högsta domstolen har beslutat att inte meddela prövningstillstånd, vilket gör att tidigare beslut står fast.

omni.se

Grönt ljus för omdiskuterad grafitgruva: ”Ofantligt glada”

Gruvbolaget Talga får grönt ljus för en grafitgruva vid Nunasvaara södra i Kiruna kommun. Miljötillståndet vinner laga kraft sedan Högsta domstolen beslutat att inte meddela prövningstillstånd. Men allt är inte riktigt i hamn.

www.nyteknik.se

Click to expand...

""The single most important decision" – in the clip you hear Emma Själin, at the mining company Talga, comment on the environmental permit.

Green light for controversial graphite mine in Kiruna – Northvolt's crisis does not worry​

Updated October 31, 2024 Published October 31, 2024
The mining company Talga gets the green light for a graphite mine in Vittangi, Kiruna municipality. In a press release, it is written that the environmental permit gains legal force after the Supreme Court decided not to grant leave to appeal.
In a press release, Talga's CEO Martin Phillips expresses great pleasure.
"We are extremely pleased with the successful completion of the environmental permit process. The anode project that Talga is now establishing in northern Sweden is crucial for Europe's energy transition," he says.

Controversy over the zoning plan​

There have been many tours around the graphite mine. In April, the political majority in Kiruna decided to suspend work on a detailed plan for the mining area.
Talga went to the government and requested a planning order in order to get a detailed plan through. Now both the municipality and Talga are waiting for a decision on the matter.
Just recently, however, another piece of the puzzle fell into place when Talga was granted a mining concession for the area in question. However, that decision can be appealed to the government.
The article will be updated."

Grönt ljus för omdiskuterad grafitgruva i Kiruna – Northvolts kris oroar inte

Gruvbolaget Talga får grönt ljus för en grafitgruva i Vittangi, Kiruna kommun. I ett pressmeddelande skriver man att miljötillståndet vinner laga kraft efter att Högsta domstolen beslutat att inte meddela prövningstillstånd.

www.svt.se

I didn't see anything of interest, but a job posting for director of finance: https://www.di.se/lediga-jobb/talga-is-looking-for-a-global-director-of-finance-to-stockholm/

Interesting press release. I think you have to connect to Germany via VPN to see it, so I’ve posted a screenshot below. From yesterday (6th November 2024)

https://www.riedhammer.de/en-US/news/20922/Riedhammer-Kiln-for-Talga-Group

BlackBeak said:

Interesting press release. I think you have to connect to Germany via VPN to see it, so I’ve posted a screenshot below. From yesterday (6th November 2024)

https://www.riedhammer.de/en-US/news/20922/Riedhammer-Kiln-for-Talga-Group

View attachment 72496

Click to expand...

That is interesting!
Thank you!

I didn't even know that Riedhammer seems to be the supplier from the beginning?
Riedhammer:
"Talga Group inaugurated Europe's first anode factory on Friday, 1 April 2022. The plant in Lulea is now officially in operation."

____
"EN
Home
News
Riedhammer Kiln for Talga Group
06/11/2024
Riedhammer Kiln for Talga Group
Talga Group, a leading battery and materials company, has increased the production target for its Vittangi graphite project in Sweden, driven by the growing demand for anode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Talga highlights the quality of its graphite anode projects and advanced battery material technologies. We are proud to support our partners with Riedhammer industrial furnaces, ensuring optimal solutions for high-performance production with cutting-edge solutions.

#graphite #industrialkilns #lithiumbatterykilns"

cosors said:

That is interesting!
Thank you!

"Riedhammer is the leading manufacturer of kiln systems worldwide"
​

I didn't even know that Riedhammer seems to be the supplier from the beginning?
Riedhammer:
"Talga Group inaugurated Europe's first anode factory on Friday, 1 April 2022. The plant in Lulea is now officially in operation."

https://www.riedhammer.de/de-DE/News/2022-1/april/Europas-erste-Anodenbafrik-in-Lulea-in-Betrieb

____
"EN
Home
News
Riedhammer Kiln for Talga Group
06/11/2024
Riedhammer Kiln for Talga Group
Talga Group, a leading battery and materials company, has increased the production target for its Vittangi graphite project in Sweden, driven by the growing demand for anode materials in lithium-ion batteries. Talga highlights the quality of its graphite anode projects and advanced battery material technologies. We are proud to support our partners with Riedhammer industrial furnaces, ensuring optimal solutions for high-performance production with cutting-edge solutions.

#graphite #industrialkilns #lithiumbatterykilns"

https://www.riedhammer.de/en-US/news/20922/Riedhammer-Kiln-for-Talga-Group

Click to expand...

It’s interesting wording too, around increased production. But I get the feeling that for them, they don’t care like we do about expansion plans, they’re probably referencing an increase in production from our existing anode demonstration refinery to the initial 19,500tpa anode refinery.

What I like though is why they decided to post this at all. Does this mean they’ve now received an order for the kilns we need? That would be exciting, because it means:
- The SC decision was the catalyst for things to start moving
- we don’t need the remaining detailed plan and concession appeals process to complete before things to happen
- More indication that we could get offtakes and financing before the above have completed (for me I’m hopeful this can be the case, but I don’t think we’ve had 100% confirmation)

BlackBeak said:

Does this mean they’ve now received an order for the kilns we need?

Click to expand...

That seems to be the case.

BlackBeak said:

That would be exciting, because it means:
- The SC decision was the catalyst for things to start moving
- we don’t need the remaining detailed plan and concession appeals process to complete before things to happen
- More indication that we could get offtakes and financing before the above have completed (for me I’m hopeful this can be the case, but I don’t think we’ve had 100% confirmation)

Click to expand...

And that doesn't read unlikely.
Talga must already have scratched holes in the concrete floor in readiness to finally get started.

Side note. I couldn't remember the name. It was only when I looked at the company with Google Maps that I realised I had been there briefly. Back than when I lived in that region longa ago I had a job for a customer from them. Funny, isn't it?

Riedhammer is now part of the Italian SACMI group.
In 2004, the SACMI Group increased its stake in Riedhammer to 90 percent.
It seems that they can build just about any type of production line.


___________
But I suspect the plant itself will come from ABB.
Wasn't there also a Japanese company involved?

Gero said:

Click to expand...

What ist meant?

cosors said:

View attachment 72611
What ist meant?

Click to expand...

I don't have a clue, but there is this:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360319905000935

Bipolar plates (BPs) are a key component of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells with multifunctional character. They uniformly distribute fuel gas and air, conduct electrical current from cell to cell, remove heat from the active area, and prevent leakage of gases and coolant. BPs also significantly contribute to the volume, weight and cost of PEM fuel cell stacks. Hence, there are vigorous efforts worldwide to find suitable materials for BPs. The materials include non-porous graphite, coated metallic sheets, polymer composites, etc. This paper reviews various types of materials, in use and proposed, for BPs and critically examines their physical and chemical properties.

So are we also dabbling in hydrogen fuel cells?

These have potential for large transport vehicles, but fuel storage may be a problem for smaller vehicles.

Diogenese said:

I don't have a clue, but there is this:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360319905000935

Bipolar plates (BPs) are a key component of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells with multifunctional character. They uniformly distribute fuel gas and air, conduct electrical current from cell to cell, remove heat from the active area, and prevent leakage of gases and coolant. BPs also significantly contribute to the volume, weight and cost of PEM fuel cell stacks. Hence, there are vigorous efforts worldwide to find suitable materials for BPs. The materials include non-porous graphite, coated metallic sheets, polymer composites, etc. This paper reviews various types of materials, in use and proposed, for BPs and critically examines their physical and chemical properties.

So are we also dabbling in hydrogen fuel cells?

These have potential for large transport vehicles, but fuel storage may be a problem for smaller vehicles.

Click to expand...

"Highly filled graphite/polymer composites
One of the department's research topics is the development of highly filled graphite/polymer-based materials with up to 90% graphite by mass. These materials can be used as bipolar plates in fuel cells or redox flow batteries. The prerequisite for this is high electrical conductivity and high thermal conductivity at the same time. This can be used to replace metallic bipolar plates, whose high weight, high material price and low chemical resistance are disadvantageous. In addition, the graphite/polymer formulations developed can also be used as plates in planar heat exchangers, for which high thermal conductivity is desired. For both applications, the high corrosion resistance of graphite/polymer materials to, for example, acids (battery) or salt water and electrolytes (heat exchanger) is of great importance.

The bipolar plate

One challenge is to reduce the brittleness of the material, which contains up to 90% graphite by mass, without reducing the electrical and thermal conductivity. The innovative idea of the IPF was to incorporate an elastomer component and apply the concept of polymer blends. For polypropylene with 80% graphite by mass, mechanical tests showed that the addition of 6% elastomer by mass increased the impact strength to 220% and the flexural elongation to 460%, but reduced the flexural strength to 40% compared to a formulation without elastomer. At the same time, processability was significantly improved.

Formulations made from various polymers (polyamide (PA), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)) and graphites were developed and investigated. Thermal conductivities of up to 26 W/(m·K) and electrical conductivities of up to 34 S/cm were achieved. Composites based on PVDF proved to be the most promising variants for bipolar plates. In a hydrogen-powered fuel cell built by Eisenhuth GmbH & Co.KG , it was shown that the current density is doubled compared to conventional PP/graphite plates.

heat exchanger plates

For use in heat exchangers, the heat transfer coefficients of the materials were determined in addition to the thermal conductivities. For PP-, PE- and PVDF-based composite materials, the addition of graphite resulted in a fivefold increase in the heat transfer coefficient compared to the pure polymer. This means that five times the amount of heat can be transferred over the same area, or the area of the heat exchanger can be reduced to 20% for a constant amount of heat transfer. In addition, the addition of graphite to PVDF-based heat exchanger plates leads to a significant cost reduction compared to pure PVDF plates. Possible areas of application include the cooling of redox flow batteries and the temperature control of saltwater pools."

Perhaps it also has something to do with the RESOLUTE Circa Cyrene project?
It ist already commercial available.


____
For a later/further search some tags.

TALGA ADVANCED MATERIALS GMBH
at:
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