https://aheadoftheherd.com/critical-minerals-supply-diversification-remains-a-daunting-task-richard-mills/
Graphite Gaining Traction
A mineral that’s gaining more traction in the critical minerals discussion is graphite, as its supply in clean energy applications is pretty much monopolized by China.
While graphite is a material that’s used in multiple industries, from refractory material to lubricant, demand is growing the fastest in the EV battery sector. According to the USGS, the battery end-use market for graphite has grown by 250% globally since 2018.
The World Bank estimates that graphite accounts for over half (53.8%) of the mineral demand in batteries, the most of any. Lithium, despite being a staple across all batteries, accounts for only 4% of total demand.
This is because graphite is the only suitable anode material and is the largest component in batteries by weight, constituting 45% or more of the cell. There is nearly 4 times more graphite feedstock consumed in each battery cell than lithium and 9 times more than cobalt.
An average plug-in EV nowadays can contain up to 70 kg of graphite.
Graphite can be sourced from natural deposits or produced artificially. Some 70% of the natural flake graphite in 2022 was supplied by China, which is also the main producer of synthetic graphite and anodes. The process to make spherical graphite that is used for batteries takes place almost entirely in China.
Battery producers have favoured synthetic graphite for its greater reliability, leading to longer battery longevity. Almost 80% of anodes manufactured in China are made using synthetic graphite. But production requires coke and temperature above 2500° C, leading to considerable CO2 emissions.
On the other hand, natural graphite is cheaper and less energy-intensive to produce. Thanks to technological development, the reliability of natural graphite quality has been improving over the past few years. For these reasons, the market share of natural graphite is expected to increase in the coming years, the IEA predicts.