Canadian battery developer Nano One and Belgian materials technology group Umicore announce the signing of a non-exclusive agreement to jointly develop production process technologies for lithium-ion battery active cathode materials.
Both companies intend to share their respective technologies for high nickel NMC active cathode materials to further increase throughput while reducing the cost and environmental footprint of producing active cathode materials. Umicore plans to evaluate Nano One’s patented ‘M2CAM One-Pot process’ technology with the intention to integrate it with their own proprietary process technology for the production of high nickel NMC cathode active materials (CAM)
“With Umicore, we share a common goal to improve the environmental footprint, cost, and performance of lithium-ion batteries, through materials and process innovation,” said Nano One CTO Dr. Stephen Campbell, adding: “We are aligned with emerging global imperatives to create secure, resilient, and long-lasting supply chains. We look forward to developing an enduring collaborative partnership with Umicore, building on our common strengths and combined know-how.”
“Innovating for a sustainable future is at the core of our business, both through organic developments and by forging research partnerships or jointly developing technologies with third parties,” explained Yves Van Rompaey, Senior Vice President Corporate Research and Development at Umicore, adding: “Our development agreement with Nano One allows us to study the feasibility of their technology with the potential and ambition to further decrease the carbon footprint and costs of CAM production.”
As implied above, this is not the first such partnership for Nano One, who announced a similar project in cooperation with BASF in June of this year. Just eight days later, Nano One then announced a major investment and collaboration with mining company Rio Tinto.
BASF is also involved in a cathode research project with Umicore, announced in May last year. For their part, Umicore has also been steadily getting more involved with the cathode business, announcing a recycling project with ACC in February, before ACC then placed a major cathode material order with Umicore in April.
nanoone.ca, umicore.com