531 0 Kommentare Northern Graphite Creates Open Source Battery Research and Testing Facility

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 10, 2014) - Northern Graphite Corporation (TSX VENTURE:NGC)(OTCQX:NGPHF) announces that in partnership with Coulometrics LLC, it has opened a lithium ion battery ("LiB") research and testing facility. The facility will focus on developing and testing improved natural graphite based anode materials for LiBs with the goal of improving battery performance, reducing costs and reducing the environmental impact of anode manufacturing. The facility will be available on normal commercial terms to any company, including Northern's competitors, provided that all results are made publicly available and shared with the industry.

Gregory Bowes, CEO commented that: "We are happy to share our experience and our proprietary purification and coating technologies with our peers in order to increase transparency, reduce disinformation, and ultimately, make better and lower cost batteries." He added that: "We are very comfortable that our deposit has the highest quality graphite and the highest yield of battery grade material but more than one new mine will be required to supply the electric vehicle market under even modest, conservative growth projections."

Services provided by the facility will include characterization of natural graphite including SEM and PIXIE impurity analysis, micronization and spheronization, purification, coating, and coin and 18650 cell testing. It will be based at the Coulometrics facilities in Tennessee and will be independently managed by Dr. Edward R. Buiel Ph.D. Dr. Ulrich von Sacken Ph.D. has been retained to consult on the design of test cells and test protocols.

Dr. Buiel received his Ph.D. from Dalhousie University in 1998 for the study of carbon anode materials for LiBs. He spent seven years developing carbon materials for LiBs with MeadWestvaco and five years as Chief Technology Officer of Axion Power International. Dr. Buiel founded Coulometrics LLC in 2008 to provide a variety of services and technologies related to advanced energy storage. These include materials/electrolyte development, device design, application design and simulation, independent testing and validation, manufacturing and scale-up planning and implementation, process quality control and auditing, and energy storage manufacturing best practices. Recently Coulometrics installed a coating/calendar/slitting system and now has complete 18650 cell assembly and testing capabilities. Through a National Science Foundation (USA) grant, Coulometrics has developed environmentally friendly coating technologies to reduce surface area and improve the first cycle efficiency of carbon materials. This will reduce their cost and improve the performance, temperature stability, and life of LiBs.