As the environmental pressure increases and the energy crisis becomes more and more prominent, advocating green energy has become a major trend. In this industry background, the development of new energy vehicles has become a global **** knowledge. So far, a number of countries have issued a clear development plan for new energy vehicles, and high subsidies to guide the development. Under the dual promotion of market and policy, the new energy vehicle market is rapidly expanding, and the power battery industry has ushered in an explosive period.
Data show that last year, the global lithium-ion power battery shipments exceeded 116.6GWh, an increase of 16.6% year-on-year, the top five companies were Ningde Times, Japan Panasonic, LG Chemistry, BYD and Samsung SDI, of which the Ningde Times for three consecutive years ranked first in the list of shipments. Affected by the subsidy slopes, last year's domestic new energy vehicle sales were less than expected, but the installed power battery volume still achieved growth against the trend, reaching 62.38GWh, an increase of about 9% year-on-year.
Last year, the power battery to achieve growth against the trend
With the accelerating process of global electrification, the volume of power batteries will continue to expand, which also gives the power battery industry chain of related materials companies to create a huge opportunity for development, which includes lithium batteries as solvent materials NMP (N-methylpyrrolidone). Ltd. said, "With the rapid growth of lithium batteries around the world, the potential for future growth in demand for NMP materials will be very large.
According to the previously released "Energy Saving and New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan", by this year, China's pure electric, plug-in hybrid vehicle capacity of 2 million units, the cumulative production and sales exceeded 5 million units. Although this year by the subsidy slopes superimposed on the impact of the new crown epidemic, new energy vehicle sales may be the same as last year, pure electric vehicle sales of about 1 million, but according to the average of each pure electric vehicle with 0.6 tons of NMP calculations, the theoretical annual demand for NMP is about 600,000 tons.
The wind is the time when companies accelerate the layout of NMP
It is understood that NMP belongs to the nitrogen heterocyclic compounds, with excellent physical and chemical properties. Including high boiling point, strong polarity, low viscosity, low corrosivity, high solubility, low volatility, good stability, biodegradable, easy to recycle, etc. Previously, it was widely used in petrochemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, electronic materials and other fields. Nowadays, it is also used in the field of lithium battery, which is a high-quality and indispensable organic solvent in the production process of lithium battery.
In the lithium battery manufacturing process, NMP can dissolve the anode material adhesive polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which is a polymer solid powder material, through the NMP solvent will be dissolved, mixed into a slurry, before coating. The quality of the dissolved slurry has a direct impact on the coating quality and effect in the lithium battery production section. At the same time, NMP can also be used as a lithium battery carbon nanotube conductive paste (CNT) diffusion fluid to improve lithium battery energy density.
It is reported that the main raw material for NMP is 1,4-butanediol (BDO), and China is the world's largest BDO producing region, providing a good basis for the development of the NMP industry. But lithium-ion batteries on organic solvent purity requirements are very high, NMP has a strong hygroscopicity, in order to protect the purity of NMP and the use of the effect of the water content is required to be less than 0.02%; the metal ion level is also upgraded from the traditional PPM level to PPB level, resulting in a high threshold of entry of NMP.
Domestic has not formed NMP quality and scale advantages
In the previous development, the domestic did not form in the field of NMP quality and scale advantages. Up to now, the domestic enterprises involved in NMP are only a few few enterprises such as Xinminhui, Binzhou Yuneng, and Maiqi Chemical. Research institutions statistics, in 2016, the annual domestic NMP production capacity of only 200,000 tons, compared with the 600,000 tons of market expectations, there is still a large gap. Based on such a supply and demand pattern, the relevant material companies are also actively laying out the production capacity of NMP solvents.
As early as 2016, the domestic well-known NMP material enterprises letter Minhui Group in Shandong Qingyun 80,000 tons / year NMP project and Anhui Bengbu 200,000 tons of NMP / year project has been launched. In July last year, Xin Minhui new total investment of 500 million yuan construction of "100,000 tons of annual output of NMP project" the first phase was completed and put into production. Xin Minhui said, with the completion of the Anhui NMP project put into operation this year, its total NMP production capacity is expected to reach 250,000 tons, far ahead of other materials companies.
In March 2018, Xinzhoubang also announced that the company intends to invest in the construction of the Polish Xinzhoubang lithium-ion battery materials project in Wroclaw, Poland. The project investment is expected to be 360 million yuan, with a combined annual output of 40,000 tons of electrolyte, 5,000 tons of NMP, and 5,000 tons of conductive paste. The project will be constructed in phases, of which the first phase is proposed to build 20,000 tons of annual capacity of electrolyte; the second phase of the project is proposed to build 20,000 tons of electrolyte, 5,000 tons of NMP, and 5,000 tons of conductive paste annual capacity.
At the end of 2018, Wanxiang Group released "Public Participation Information Disclosure on Environmental Impact Assessment of Wanxiang Innovative Polycity's Lithium Battery Project with an Annual Output of 80 GWh" on its official website. Wanxiang Group said it intends to invest in the project in Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, with an estimated total investment of 68.57 billion yuan. Construction includes: power battery pilot base and new energy materials laboratory, NMP purification plant and electrolyte formulation plant, etc., involved in NMP purification and electrolyte production.
Industry insiders believe that "with the development of the lithium industry, the amount of NMP will also show rapid growth, if you consider the factor of battery replacement, the amount of NMP may be more than predicted. But currently under construction and planning capacity has long exceeded the market expectations, do not rule out the late enterprise heavy investment in the field of NMP, rapid increase in production capacity, resulting in the lack of high-end production capacity, low-end excess capacity situation, the blue sea into a red sea.
And more importantly, the lithium battery industry, NMP is required to recover recycling, which is a cost reduction requirements, but also mandatory requirements for safety and environmental protection. Battery manufacturers do not pay attention to NMP recycling, will lead to exhaust emissions do not meet the standards, resulting in environmental pollution. NMP has the characteristics of easy recycling, some enterprises can achieve a recovery rate of 95% or even higher. Therefore, from the actual demand point of view, the market demand for NMP is not as big as the theory.
Recycling of lithium batteries to help green production
As an important initiative to win the "battle of the blue sky", the development of new energy vehicles is the trend, as a new energy vehicle core components of the power battery, the production process may not be able to do green. It is understood that in the lithium battery production process, NMP will be coated in the finished drying volatile, and through the gas tank to the outside world. NMP as an organic solvent with all the organic chemicals similar to a weak toxicity, the environment will cause a certain degree of pollution.
With the state of lithium battery safety, environmental protection requirements are more and more high, the emission of NMP has also developed strict requirements. According to the previously introduced environmental standards, the domestic requirements of the NMP emissions can not exceed 10PPM, and in foreign countries, the requirements will be higher, Europe even requires NMP emissions not exceeding 1PPM. Therefore, how to deal with the exhaust generated by the NMP, so that it meets the required emission standards, lithium battery manufacturers need to think about the problem.
In such an industry background, the birth of a number of companies for NMP exhaust purification, including Zhenxin environmental protection, Bry-Air, Ouselai, etc., the corresponding equipment and solutions also came into being. "As far as I know, the current involved in lithium battery production process NMP tail gas purification and treatment of enterprises are about ten or so." Liu Germany mentioned that with the continuous improvement of NMP recovery process, NMP has now realized the integration of purification and recovery.
In the view of Liu Germany, "advocating the green production of lithium batteries, but also from the source. And lithium battery enterprises growing demand for energy saving and consumption reduction, will also force the NMP recycling industry to continue to progress." Zhenxin environmental protection as a focus on NMP energy saving and environmental protection tail gas purification system research and development and production of enterprises, in the NMP energy saving and environmental protection tail gas purification field has seven years of precipitation. The main products include NMP energy-saving environmental protection system, high tower NMP environmental protection system and so on.
Zhenxin NMP energy-saving environmentally friendly recycling system
Zhenxin environmental protection main equipment - NMP energy-saving environmentally friendly recycling system, for example, the equipment does not need to make any changes to the existing production equipment, electricity consumption is as low as 3KW / H. Through the simultaneous linkage with the coating machine, the use of frequency converters to regulate the wind temperature, the NMP organic solvent recovery rate. NMP organic solvent recovery rate of up to 95%, and the annual failure rate of the system is as low as 1%, purification and adsorption of exhaust emissions to meet the national environmental protection standards, ahead of peers. It is understood that the device has been awarded a utility model patent.
Zhenxin environmental protection also received a utility model patent NMP high tower recovery system, with a three-dimensional footprint is small, heat recovery effect, high degree of automation. The system uses PLC for system control, touch screen man-machine screen to achieve real-time operation of the unit operation, and the coating machine to achieve remote linkage, the exhaust gas in the NMP is basically soluble in water, high recovery efficiency. The treated exhaust gas is separated from the gas and liquid and rinsed by the rinser at the top of the tower, thus reaching the national environmental protection level 2 standard.
Liu Germany said, "Zhenxin environmental protection to provide customers with not only high-quality equipment, but also free of charge to provide installation, commissioning, after-sales, including a complete solution, in order to achieve full recycling, zero emissions at the same time, reduce the cost of use. More importantly, customers can use the recovered NMP waste liquid to offset the cost of equipment, easing the financial pressure on customers. Through the recycling of 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 companies.
NMP recycling will become mainstream
And it is understood that the current leading domestic lithium battery manufacturers, almost all in their production lines are installed in the NMP material recycling system to achieve the purpose of NMP recycling, purification, application. Through the recovery system, more than 85% of the NMP can be recycled, not only to meet the national environmental requirements and promote the green production of lithium batteries. It also greatly reduces the cost of lithium battery production and greatly enhances the core competitiveness of lithium battery enterprises.
Industry insiders believe that the future along with the increasing volume of power batteries and energy storage, the market demand for lithium batteries will continue to rise, NMP in the lithium battery industry chain will be more prominent, recycling NMP will also become the mainstream of lithium battery solvent materials industry. For NMP purification and recycling equipment companies, how to maximize the performance of the equipment, with the lowest energy consumption to achieve the most efficient recovery, to provide maximum return for the enterprise will become the key to victory.