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Northern Graphite Files Patent Application for Purification Technology
Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 8, 2018) - Northern Graphite Corporation (TSXV: NG...
About this update from Northern Graphite Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"Northern Graphite Files Patent Application for Purification TechnologyOttawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - January 8, 2018) - Northern Graphite Corporation (TSXV: NGC) (OTCQX: NGPHF) (\"Northern\" or the \"Company\") announces that it has filed an application to patent its proprietary natural graphite purification technology. The patent is entitled \"System and Method for Producing High Purity Particulate Graphite using Carbochlorination in an Electrical Resistance Heated Fluidized Bed Reactor.\" The inventors are Dr. Kamal Adham Ph.D. P.Eng, Sabrina Francey M.A.Sc. P.Eng and Darren Kazmaier P.Eng, all of whom are employees of Hatch Inc. (\"Hatch\"), and Gregory Bowes, B.Sc. MBA P.Geo., Chief Executive Officer of Northern. The patent relates to the use of chlorine in a specially constructed fluidized bed reactor that was designed by Hatch. Northern has signed an exclusive licensing agreement to use Hatch's Intellectual Property (\"IP\") in the design, construction and operation of the reactor, which is a key component of Northern's patent pending purification technology. Graphite mine concentrates must be upgraded with a secondary purification process in order to be used in a number of value added markets, the largest being lithium ion batteries (\"LiBs\"). The anode material in LiBs is graphite, either natural or synthetic, and there are no substitutes. Natural graphite, which makes up over 60 per cent of the market, must be purified to 99.95%Cg for use in LiBs and some specific impurities must be less than 50ppm. Essentially all of this purification is done in China with the wet chemical approach which is largely based on the use of hydrofluoric acid. This is difficult and/or expensive to do in the west because of environmental and workplace health and safety challenges. Thermal purification is too expensive and can still require secondary purification prior to use. As the electric vehicle and grid storage markets expand, the demand for LiB anode material will grow exponentially and it is critical that the west develop an alternative to current graphite purification processes. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence estimates that over 300gWh of LiB manufacturing capacity will be added by 2021. This would require an additional 600,000t of flake graphite per year (current production is approximately 650,000t), and all of it has to be puri...