Research & Development

Grafintec Oy participates in research programmes developing national battery cluster (BATCircle 2.0 and BATTrace) cooperating with both companies operating in the field, GTK, VTT and universities in order to compile and analyse global information dealing with mineral exploration carried out in extensive geological areas and the demand for battery minerals.

BATCircle 2.0

In 2021, Grafintec was granted EUR 791,000 funding by Business Finland as part of the BATCircle2.0 (Finland-based Circular Ecosystem of Battery Metals) consortium. The funding will be used to develop a sustainable technological solution, utilizing renewable energy, to spheronise and purify graphite within a Finnish industrial ecosystem, for use in the manufacture of lithium-ion battery anodes.

The vision of BATCircle 2.0 programme is to develop and to optimize highly technical production processes (spheronisation and thermal cleaning) for natural and alternative graphite resources. These include for example the conversion of recycled graphite to high-quality anode material for lithium-ion batteries. New, environmentally friendly and cost-effective conversion processes of graphite materials into high-quality anode materials for lithium-ion batteries without the use of hazardous chemicals (e.g. hydrofluoric acid) are tested and optimized in the programme. The aim of process optimization is to produce even- and high-quality materials that fulfil the criteria required in electric vehicle applications.

BATTRACE

The objective of BATTRACE research programme is to research the traceability of battery materials (origin of metals) and sustainable production of battery materials. The target of the European Green Deal programme is to produce batteries conforming to safe and sustainable principles to meet increasing demand.