Scientists from the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) and Necsa fluorochemical subsidiary Pelchem have developed a lower-cost method to produce high-purity phosphorus pentafluoride (PF5), which is used to manufacture lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) \u2013 the electrolyte used in most lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries.<\/p>\n
The work was completed as part of a doctoral thesis at the University of Pretoria and a patent had been filed for the new process.<\/p>\n
LiPF6 is a white crystalline solid in its pure form and is used as a dissolved salt solution in batteries, with its supply considered critical for the expansion of the Li-ion battery industry.<\/p>\n
The current commercial processes involved in producing PF5 use either high-cost raw materials or produce undesirable waste products.<\/p>\n
The Necsa process, however, uses low-cost start-up materials through which the PF5 could be produced in high purity.<\/p>\n
The electrical vehicle and electronics for commercial aircraft markets are considered a growing market for Li-ion batteries, with growing interest in bulk energy storage systems. The global market for Li-ion batteries was $11-billion in 2012 and is expected to grow to $35-billion by 2020.<\/p>\n
As a result of the product\u2019s importance, the South African Department of Trade and Industry had embarked on a Fluorochemical Expansion Initiative aimed at increasing the local beneficiation of the country\u2019s fluorspar mineral reserves, with strategic research and development support from the Department of Science and Technology.<\/p>\n
South Africa has the largest global reserves of fluorspar, at 40-million tons.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scientists from the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) and Necsa fluorochemical subsidiary Pelchem have developed a lower-cost method to produce high-purity phosphorus pentafluoride (PF5), which is used to manufacture lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) \u2013 the electrolyte used in most lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. The work was completed as part of a doctoral thesis at the University … Continue reading “Fluorspar for Li-ion-batteries”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,86],"tags":[9287,9288,9286,9285,7427],"class_list":["post-14428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-technology","tag-bulk-energy-storage-systems","tag-fluorochemical-expansion-initiative","tag-lithium-ion-li-ion-batteries","tag-pelchem","tag-south-african-nuclear-energy-corporation-necsa"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14429,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14428\/revisions\/14429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}