Syrah Resources Produces Battery Grade Spherical Graphite from Balama

Syrah Resources (ASX:SYR) announced that it has successfully produced spherical graphite from the Balama natural flake graphite. According to Syrah, the battery market represents roughly 8% of global battery demand, however, it is one of the most rapidly growing sectors. A major driver of this demand growth is eco-cars such as Tesla and Toyota Prius. The graphite used as the anode in the lithium ion battery for such cars is called spherical graphite which is processed from natural flake graphite.

According to the company’s press release:

The spherical graphite industry utilises a standard deviation system for classifying particle distribution. The spherical graphite produced by Syrah consisted of a 90% distribution at <6.63 microns, a 50% distribution at <4.69 microns and a 10% distribution at <2.73 microns. The spherical graphite was produced by patented air powered jet milling equipment. The natural graphite concentrate feed sizing was 100 microns, which is considered fine flake. A smaller spherical graphite size produces a larger surface area which has a higher density and increases storage capacity. The current automotive battery producers utilise mainly spherical graphite with a 90% distribution at <15 microns. Consumer battery producers utilise spherical graphite with 90% distribution at <10 microns

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