A Shortened Process of Artificial Graphite Manufacturing for Anode Materials in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Recently, due to the rapid increase in the demand for artificial graphite, there has been a strong need to improve the productivity of artificial graphite. In this study, we propose a new efficient process by eliminating the carbonation stage from the existing process. The conventional graphite manufacturing process usually involves a series of stages: the pulverization of needle-type coke, the granulation of pitch and coke premix, carbonation, graphitization, and surface treatment to compensate voids formed within particles. The process seems time-consuming and costly. Therefore, in our proposed shortened process, we have eliminated the carbonization stage. Instead of petroleum-derived pitch, coal tar pitch was employed. Coal tar pitch has a lower softening point than binder pitch. Apart from the cost-effectiveness of the process, it has enhanced the properties of artificial graphite by a uniform coating using a lower amount of hard carbon. In addition, the whole manufacturing time and cost was reduced by 12 h and 20% due to the skipped manufacturing step, respectively. It was observed that the artificial graphite produced by the newly proposed shortened process had improved physical properties related to the density and graphitization degree, and also showed an improvement in electrochemical performance. Raman 3D mapping and the electrochemical evaluation of artificial graphite were mainly used to compare the physical properties. This shortened process not only reduces the manufacturing cost, but also contributes to the improved performance of lithium-ion battery anode material.