The data shows that the global shipments of lithium-ion power batteries exceeded 1 16.6GWh last year, a year-on-year increase of 16.6%. The top five companies are Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd., Panasonic, LG Chem, BYD and Samsung SDI, among which Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. ranked first in shipments for three consecutive years. Affected by subsidies, the domestic sales of new energy vehicles fell short of expectations last year, but the installed capacity of power batteries still grew against the trend, reaching 62.38GWh, up about 9% year-on-year.
Last year, power batteries grew against the trend.
With the acceleration of global electrification, the volume of power batteries will continue to expand, which also creates huge development opportunities for related materials enterprises in the power battery industry chain, including NMP(N- methylpyrrolidone) as a solvent material for lithium batteries. Liu Dede, general manager of Dongguan Zhenxin Environmental Protection Technology Co., Ltd. said, "With the rapid increase of global power lithium batteries, the demand for NMP materials will have great growth potential in the future."
According to the previously released "Development Plan for Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry", the production capacity of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles in China will reach 2 million this year, and the cumulative production and sales will exceed 5 million. Although the sales volume of new energy vehicles may be the same as last year, and the sales volume of pure electric vehicles is about 6.5438+0 million, the theoretical annual demand of NMP is about 600,000 tons according to the average consumption of 0.6 tons of NMP per pure electric vehicle.
At that time, the company accelerated its layout in NMP.
It is understood that NMP belongs to nitrogen heterocyclic compounds and has excellent physical and chemical properties. Include high boiling point, strong polarity, low viscosity, low corrosiveness, high solubility, low volatility, good stability, biodegradability, easy recovery and the like. , has been widely used in petrochemical, pesticide, medicine, electronic materials and other fields. Now it is also used in the field of lithium batteries, and it is an indispensable high-quality organic solvent in the production process of lithium batteries.
In the process of lithium battery manufacturing, NMP can dissolve polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), the binder of cathode material. PVDF is a kind of polymer solid powder material, which must be dissolved and mixed into slurry with NMP solvent before coating. The quality of slurry formed by dissolution directly affects the coating quality and effect of lithium battery production section. At the same time, NMP can also be used as a diffusion solution of carbon nanotube conductive paste (CNT) for lithium batteries to improve the energy density of lithium batteries.
It is reported that the main raw material of NMP is 1, 4- butanediol (BDO), and China is the largest BDO producing area in the world, which provides a good foundation for the development of NMP industry. However, lithium-ion batteries require very high purity of organic solvents, and NMP has strong hygroscopicity. In order to ensure the purity and use effect of NMP, its water content is required to be less than 0.02%. The metal ion level has also been upgraded from the traditional PPM level to PPB level, which leads to a higher entry threshold for NMP.
The advantages of quality and scale of NMP have not been formed in China.
In the previous development, China did not form the advantages of quality and scale in NMP field. So far, only a few domestic enterprises have set foot in NMP, such as Xinmin Hui, Binzhou Yuneng and Maiqi Chemical. According to the statistics of research institutions, the annual production capacity of NMP in China in 20 16 is only 200,000 tons, which is still far from the market expectation of 600,000 tons. Based on this supply and demand pattern, related material enterprises are also actively deploying the production capacity of NMP solvents.
As early as 20 16, the 80,000-ton/year NMP project of Xinmin Hui Group and the 200,000-ton NMP project of Bengbu, Anhui Province were started. In July last year, the first phase of the "NMP project with an annual output of 654.38+10,000 tons" with a total investment of 500 million yuan was completed and put into operation. Xin Minhui said that with the completion and commissioning of Anhui NMP project this year, its total NMP production capacity is expected to reach 250,000 tons, far ahead of other materials enterprises.
2065438+In March 2008, Xinzhou State also announced that it planned to invest in the lithium-ion battery material project of Xinzhou State in Wroclaw, Poland. The project is expected to invest 360 million yuan, with an annual output of 40,000 tons of electrolyte, 5,000 tons of NMP and 5,000 tons of conductive slurry. The project will be built in stages, in which the first phase is planned to build an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of electrolyte; The second phase of the project plans to build an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of electrolyte, 5,000 tons of NMP and 5,000 tons of conductive paste.
At the end of 20 18, Wanxiang Group released "Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment of 80G Watt-hour Lithium Battery Project in Wanxiang Innovation Energy Gathering City" in official website. Wanxiang Group said that it plans to build the project in Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, with an estimated total investment of 68.57 billion. The construction contents include: power battery pilot base, new energy materials laboratory, NMP purification plant and electrolyte preparation plant. And participate in NMP purification and electrolyte production.
The industry believes that "with the development of the lithium battery industry, the number of NMP will also show a rapid growth trend. If the battery replacement factor is considered, the number of NMP may exceed the estimate. However, the production capacity under construction and planning has already exceeded market expectations. It is not excluded that some enterprises will invest heavily in NMP to rapidly increase production capacity in the later stage, resulting in insufficient high-end production capacity and overcapacity at the low end, and the blue ocean will become the Red Sea. "
More importantly, NMP in the lithium battery industry must be recovered, which is a requirement for cost reduction and a mandatory requirement for safety and environmental protection. If battery manufacturers don't pay attention to NMP recovery, it will lead to waste gas emission not reaching the standard, thus causing environmental pollution. NMP is easy to recover, and the recovery rate of some enterprises can reach 95% or even higher. Therefore, from the actual demand, the market demand of NMP is not as great as that in theory.
Recycling contributes to the green production of lithium batteries.
As an important measure to win the "blue sky defense war", the development of new energy vehicles is the general trend. As the core component of new energy vehicles, the production process of power batteries may not be green. It is understood that in the process of lithium battery production, NMP will volatilize when coating and drying, and it will be discharged to the outside through the bellows. As an organic solvent, NMP is similar to all organic chemicals, and its toxicity is weak, which will cause certain pollution to the environment.
With the country's increasing requirements for the safety and environmental protection of lithium batteries, strict requirements are also put forward for the emission of NMP. According to previous environmental protection standards, China requires that NMP emissions should not exceed 10PPM. In foreign countries, the requirements will be higher, and Europe even requires that NMP emissions should not exceed 1PPM. Therefore, how to deal with the waste gas produced by NMP and make it meet the prescribed emission standards has become a problem that lithium battery manufacturers need to think about.
In this industry background, a number of enterprises aiming at NMP tail gas purification have emerged, including Vibration Core Environmental Protection, Bai Rui Air, Oszer, etc., and corresponding equipment and solutions have also emerged. "As far as I know, there are about ten companies involved in NMP tail gas purification treatment in lithium battery production." Liu De mentioned that with the continuous improvement of NMP recovery process, NMP has realized the integration of purification and recovery.
In Liu Dede's view, "to advocate the green production of lithium batteries, we must start from the source. The growing demand for energy saving and consumption reduction of lithium battery enterprises will also force the NMP recycling industry to make continuous progress. " Zhenxin Environmental Protection, as an enterprise focusing on the research and development and production of NMP energy-saving and environmental protection exhaust gas purification system, has been in the field of NMP energy-saving and environmental protection exhaust gas purification for seven years. The main products include NMP energy-saving and environmental protection system and high-tower NMP environmental protection system.
Zhenxin environmental protection NMP energy-saving and environmental protection recovery system
Take the ——NMP energy-saving and environmental protection recycling system, the main equipment of Zhenxin Environmental Protection, as an example. The equipment does not need to change the existing production equipment, the power consumption is as low as 3 kW/h, the recovery rate of NMP organic solvent is as high as 95%, and the annual failure rate of the system is as low as 65438 0%. After purification and adsorption, the tail gas emission reaches the national second-class environmental protection standard, leading the peers. It is understood that the device has obtained a practical patent.
Zhenxin Environmental Protection also obtained a practical patent for NMP tower recovery system, which has the characteristics of small floor space, good heat recovery effect and high automation. The system adopts PLC control system, touching the man-machine screen to realize the real-time operation of the unit and remote linkage with the coating machine. NMP in waste gas is basically soluble in water, and the recovery efficiency is high. After gas-liquid separation, the treated waste gas is washed at the top of the tower, reaching the national second-class environmental protection standard.
Liu Dede said, "Zhenxin Environmental Protection not only provides customers with high-quality equipment, but also provides complete solutions including installation, commissioning and after-sales for free, which reduces the use cost and achieves full recovery and zero emission. More importantly, customers can use the recovered NMP waste liquid to deduct the equipment payment, thus alleviating the financial pressure of customers. By recycling NMP, the production cost of lithium batteries can be reduced by about 3%, and this saved production cost will be an important source of profit for lithium battery enterprises. "
NMP recycling will become the mainstream.
It is understood that most of the leading lithium battery manufacturers in China have installed NMP material recovery system in their production lines to achieve the purpose of recovery, purification and application of NMP. Through the recovery system, more than 85% NMP can be recovered, which not only meets the national environmental protection requirements, but also promotes the green production of lithium batteries. At the same time, it also greatly reduces the production cost of lithium batteries and greatly enhances the core competitiveness of lithium battery enterprises.
The industry believes that with the continuous increase of power batteries and energy storage capacity in the future, the market demand for lithium batteries will continue to rise, and NMP will play a more prominent role in the lithium battery industry chain. Recovering NMP will also become the mainstream of lithium battery solvent material industry. For NMP purification and recycling equipment enterprises, how to maximize the performance of equipment, achieve the most efficient recycling with the lowest energy consumption, and provide the maximum return for enterprises will become the key to the success of enterprises.