I have a little information to share about Graphite too ...
Carbon (Basic Graphite) is the 15th most abundant element in the Earth's crust & there are three types:
1. Amorphous
2. Graphite
3. Diamonds
Graphite occurs/exists in three forms:
1. Flake
2. Lump/vein
3. Amorphous
Currently, China controls over 70% of the world’s graphite market, which makes EU and USA have named graphite to be one of the critical supply minerals. On the other hand, the graphite produced in China is mostly for domestic industrial uses, which is the lower-grade, finer-flake graphite that is unsuited for the emerging market.
Today not many people realize how many mines (from supply side perspective) available have to come on board to satisfy the demand for large-flake graphite as demand for flake graphite is being driven upwards by green technology.
Today only have about 40% of supply from flake graphite (highest price, lowest supply) and 60% from amorphous graphite. High purity crystal flake graphite consists high carbon purity and large flake size, but the supply is very limited. Only this kind of natural graphite can be used for Li-ion batteries, fuel cells, and other green technologies.
The market that is driving graphite demands are:
1. Lithium-ion batteries
2. Electric vehicle
3. Fuel cells – fuel cells have the potential to use as much graphite as all other uses. Proton Exchanges Membrance Technology requires large amounts of graphite, and is the most likely technology to be developed for use in light weight vehicles, building, and smaller application (US Geological Survey, US Department of Energy). (Fact: News from the R&D front suggests that graphene, an extraordinarily light graphite derivative that’s 200 times stronger than steel, offers a whole new world of technological potential).
4. Nuclear Power - China is currently developing and testing Pebble Bed reactor designs. In April 2011, China began building a 210 MW fourth-generation nuclear reactor using high temperature gas-cooled Pebble Bed Technology. (Fact: A 1GW Pebble Bed Reactor needs 3,000 tonnes of graphite to start up and up to 1,000 tonnes to operate annually). China is aiming to exponentially expand its nuclear power program
5. Solar panel
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