Posco partners with Molten to develop anode material

Posco Future M is collaborating with US-based Molten to develop natural graphite anode material from non-mined raw materials. 

Posco Future M signed an MOU with Molten through which the South Korean company will combine its anode material technology with Molten’s methane-based graphite production technology to strengthen its anode material feedstock supply chain, Posco said in a press release.

Under the planned arrangement, Molten will produce graphite via methane pyrolysis, which Posco Future M will then process into spherical graphite through its subsidiary FutureGraph before producing natural graphite anode material at its Sejong plant.

Graphite produced from methane gas contains lower levels of metallic impurities than mined graphite, reducing the number of purification steps required and yielding substantial cost savings in the production of natural graphite anode material. 

In addition, methane pyrolysis generates hydrogen as a co-product alongside graphite, which is expected to create synergies at the Posco Group level, including potential use of the hydrogen for power generation or as a feedstock for Posco’s hydrogen-based direct reduction steelmaking operations, the press release said.

“We have until now relied on graphite mined from conventional sources, but by combining the raw material and advanced materials expertise of both companies, we will secure key feedstock through an entirely new approach,” Young-jun Hong, Head of the Posco Future M Technology Research Laboratory, said. “We expect this to give us a differentiated competitive edge in the global market through both supply chain diversification and cost reduction.”