The industrialization of sodium-ion batteries has become the general trend? At the beginning of the year, four companies joined forces to lay out

The surge in the cost of lithium-ion batteries has made the contradiction between supply and demand of lithium resources one of the pain points in the development of the new energy industry, and the industry urgently needs to seek new technical directions to achieve replacement
.
In particular, the release of production capacity in the energy storage industry has made the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries a general trend
.

According to Zheshang Securities, after a number of battery companies have entered the sodium-ion battery industry, sodium-ion batteries are expected to achieve an outbreak
of production capacity in 2023.
With the heating up of sodium-ion batteries, it has also attracted the attention of related material companies
.

On January 6, Midland New Materials announced that the company and its holding subsidiary Liaoning Meicai New Materials Co.
, Ltd.
, Hunan Lifang New Energy Technology Co.
, Ltd.
and Anshan Qicai Chemical Co.
, Ltd.
reached a strategic cooperation consensus on jointly promoting the industrialization process of sodium-ion batteries, and signed a strategic cooperation agreement
on the same day.

According to the cooperation agreement, the technical teams of all parties jointly carry out cooperative research and development and experiments on the performance, specification parameters and production process of the positive and negative electrode materials of sodium-ion batteries - Prussian blue (white), form a communication and feedback mechanism, and jointly improve the technical indicators to promote the industrialization process of sodium ion batteries of Lush blue (white) materials, and the first phase of cooperation is 10 years
.

It is worth noting that while "holding hands" with Midland New Materials, Qicai Chemical issued an announcement on January 6 that the company terminated its cooperation with Suzhou Yuena New Energy Technology Co.
, Ltd.
because the non-compete situation of one of the core technical members of the founding team could not meet the terms
of the investment contract.
However, this move will not affect the company's future overall development and sodium-ion battery material industry planning, the company will still invest around the Prussian blue (white) sodium-ion battery cathode material related industrial chain
.

The initial period of cooperation is 10 years

It is understood that at present, there are basically three types of sodium-ion battery cathode materials, including metal oxides, Prussian blue, and polyanionic compounds
.

Prussian blue (such as Na2Mn[Mn (CN)6], NaFe[Fe(CN)6], etc.
) cathode is a cubic structure, which has the characteristics of
low raw material cost but low cycle life.
Representative manufacturers include CATL and Rongbai Technology
.

Polyanionic systems have the characteristics of
long life and stable structure, but poor rate performance and low capacity density.
Representative manufacturers include Jiangsu Zhongsodium Energy, Penghui Energy and so on
.

Layered transition metal oxides have the advantages of high energy density and long cycle life, and representative manufacturers include CATL, Zhongke Haina, Sodium Innovation Energy, etc
.

Industry insiders said that the above three materials have their own advantages
.
Among them, Prussian blue compounds have relatively low cost, high specific capacity and energy density, excellent rate performance, and great
future potential.
The cathode material of the first generation of sodium-ion batteries released by CATL is Prussian white, and the energy density of the battery reaches 160wh/kg
.

It is based on the company's technology, production capacity and cost advantages in Prussian blue (white) that Midland New Materials is considering entering the sodium-ion battery industry
.
According to the announcement, in September 2022, the company and Qicai Chemical signed a strategic cooperation agreement on jointly investing 2.
5 billion yuan to build the "180,000 tons of battery-grade Prussian blue (white) project with an annual output", and the agreement has been fulfilled
.

On January 4 this year, Meilian New Material and Qicai Chemical jointly invested and established Meicai New Material, the company's registered capital is 500 million yuan, and its business scope includes the production, sales and manufacturing of chemical products
.
It is reported that Meicai New Material holds 51% of the company's equity, and Qicai Chemical holds 49% of its equity
.

About Meilian New Material, the world's leading enterprise in the cyanide chloride industry, the company has Prussian blue (white) upstream core raw material sodium cyanide, about Colorful Chemical, specializing in high-performance organic pigments, solvent dyes and related intermediates, the announcement said that it has Prussian blue (white) industrialization technology, cost and environmental protection treatment advantages
.

In this four-party cooperation, the newly established Meicai New Material also played an important role
.
Another protagonist involved in this cooperation, Lifang New Energy Division, has certain technical advantages
in the design, development and production of sodium-ion batteries.

It is reported that after the cooperation, the technical teams of all parties will give full play to their respective technical advantages in the field of Prussian blue (white) battery-grade materials, and jointly carry out cooperative research and development and experiments on the relevant properties, specification parameters and production processes of the positive and negative electrode materials of sodium-ion batteries - Prussian blue (white), and improve technical indicators to promote the industrialization process of sodium ion batteries of Lush blue (white
) materials.

For the positive impact of this cooperation, Meilian New Materials and Qicai Chemical both announced that with the further deepening of business cooperation between all parties in the future, it is expected to have a positive impact on the operation and development of Meicai New Materials, which is conducive to accelerating the company's large-scale development and enhancing the company's comprehensive strength
.

The industrialization of sodium-ion batteries is imminent

For the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries, the market is generally optimistic
.
Especially in the context of the imbalance between supply and demand of lithium resources, soaring prices, and rising demand in the energy storage industry, the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries is expected to accelerate
.
At the same time, the government is also paying more and more attention to sodium-ion battery technology and taking it as an important research demonstration
in the field of energy storage.

According to the analysis of Huatai Securities, sodium-ion batteries can take the lead in the development of low-speed passenger cars with their good cost performance and more stable electrochemical performance, fast charging and low temperature performance; In the field of energy storage, with the breakthrough of various enterprises in the research and development of cycle performance, sodium-ion batteries can subsequently partially replace
lithium iron phosphate batteries.

Comprehensive judgment, it is expected that the installed capacity of sodium-ion batteries is expected to reach 335GWh in 2027, the overall market size of sodium batteries will reach 167.
6 billion yuan, and the corresponding market space of cathode materials, anode materials and electrolytes will reach 377, 172 and 12.
3 billion yuan
respectively in 2027.

Specific to the present, under the joint entry of battery cell companies and material companies, the industrialization progress of sodium-ion batteries is advancing rapidly, and 2023 is expected to be the first year of industrialization of
sodium-ion batteries.