A state-owned Chinese company has announced a breakthrough in the mass production of graphite with a purity of almost 100%.
This achievement will further solidify China’s global leadership in the production of strategic materials, deemed a crucial weapon in the country’s high-tech war with the West.
Science and Technology Daily reported on Wednesday that China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) has developed a refining equipment capable of producing high-purity, low-cost graphite on an industrial scale.
Graphite with a purity exceeding 99.99% carbon content is known for its self-lubricating, electrically conductive, corrosion-resistant, and thermally and chemically stable properties. It finds wide application in fields such as nuclear energy, semiconductors, and aerospace.
“Our newly developed equipment has successfully refined graphite powder from 99.93% purity to over 99.99995%,” said CETC CEO Xie Yongqiang. “This purity is approaching the theoretical upper limit, with impurities reduced to a negligible level.” This makes CETC’s product the purest graphite available in mass quantities.
As the world’s largest producer and exporter of graphite, China has leveraged this material as a geopolitical tool. High-purity graphite was added to the country’s export control list as of December 1, according to Beijing’s announcement last October. Graphite is essential for electric vehicle battery production.
“China possesses the largest and highest-quality natural graphite reserves globally. Similar to rare earths, graphite is a precious and non-renewable resource,” Sun Quing, honorary president of the China Carbon Industry Association, told Global Times last year.
Sun highlighted the military and aerospace significance of high-purity, high-strength, and high-density artificial graphite. He added that export controls might aim to prevent leaks of sensitive technology related to China’s nuclear applications.
According to the report, CETC’s new process not only enhances purity but also reduces production costs to 40% of the traditional method. Xie stated that this process has been scaled up for mass production with stable results and is well-received by customers.
Back in September, another state-owned enterprise, China Minmetals Corporation, achieved a graphite purity of 99.99995% through a process called “continuous refining.” However, no details were provided on whether this technology is suitable for large-scale production.
CETC, headquartered in Shanxi Province, China, was established in 2010. It specializes in high-purity graphite materials for third-generation semiconductors and carbon composites for optoelectronic applications.
Source: SCMP
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