POSCO FUTURE M said on the 19th that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the joint development of raw materials for natural graphite anode materials using methane gas with Molten, a U.S. graphite manufacturing corporations, at Coex in Gangnam District, Seoul, on the 11th.
Molten is the world's only corporations capable of producing graphite by thermally decomposing methane gas and is headquartered in California. The signing ceremony was attended by Hong Young-jun, head of the POSCO FUTURE M research institute, Kevin Busch, Molten chief executive officer (CEO), and Caleb Boyd, Molten chief technology officer (CTO), among others.
Under the agreement, Molten will produce graphite by thermally decomposing methane gas. POSCO FUTURE M plans to send it to its subsidiary FutureGraph to process it into spherical graphite and then produce natural graphite anode materials at its Sejong plant.
Graphite produced using methane gas has a lower content of metallic impurities compared with graphite mined from deposits. Because the refining process can be reduced, the production expense of natural graphite anode materials can be cut. In addition, the hydrogen generated along with graphite when thermally decomposing methane gas can be used to produce electricity.
Hong said, "We have relied on graphite mined from deposits, but if we secure key raw materials in a new way by combining the raw material and materials technologies held by the two companies, we expect to strengthen competitiveness by diversifying the raw material supply chain and reducing expense."