Self-developed high-temperature calcination equipment, a kiloton-scale production line is about to be launched. "Xinnuo Advanced" breaks through the bottleneck of high-performance inorganic powder material calcination | Early-stage project
Text | Zhang Bingbing
Editor | A Zhi
In the production process of various new materials, high-temperature calcination is an important step to achieve a “qualitative change” in the performance of raw materials. Especially in the battery material system, the energy density, cycle life, and safety of battery cathode and anode materials largely depend on their chemical composition and crystal structure. Strict control of the high-temperature calcination process can ensure product consistency, thereby improving the performance of battery materials.
At the same time, high-temperature calcination equipment has a relatively high value. Taking the roller hearth kiln, which is widely used in current battery cathode and anode materials, as an example, its value accounts for about 30%-40% of the production line investment. Therefore, high-temperature calcination equipment is one of the important equipment to ensure the stable quality of new materials and improve production efficiency.
Xinnuo Advanced Thermal Technology (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xinnuo Advanced”) was established in March 2021. Its business focuses on the R & D and import substitution of “vacuum - normal pressure” high-temperature thermal equipment within 2400°C. Its core application fields are new energy, new materials, and related resource recycling.
At the beginning of its establishment, in response to the strict requirements of high-temperature calcination of high-end inorganic powder materials, Xinnuo Advanced independently developed a fully airtight, rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology platform with high production capacity and low power consumption. It entered the application market from lithium battery cathode materials, and its products have passed the pilot test verification of some leading customers. The mass production line will be launched this year. Extending from this technology platform, Xinnuo Advanced's product system has been gradually expanded to application fields such as solid electrolytes, new gas-phase silicon-carbon anodes, sodium battery cathode and anode materials, and ceramic materials.
Previously, Xinnuo Advanced completed a Series A financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Yangtze River Growth Capital, followed by Lingyi Venture Capital and Tsinghua Alumni Fund. It previously received angel investment from Suzhou State-owned Investment. Yundao Capital serves as its long-term exclusive financial advisor. Currently, it plans to start a new round of financing to promote product R & D and market expansion.
I. From technical accumulation to multi-dimensional innovation to achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement in battery material sintering
Currently, the main high-temperature calcination equipment for battery cathode materials is the roller hearth kiln. For thermal equipment, temperature control accuracy, temperature uniformity, atmosphere control ability, production capacity, energy consumption, continuous operation time, etc., are all important technical and economic indicators. Dr. Wu Zhen, the founder of Xinnuo Advanced, believes that there is also an important “impossible trinity” for thermal equipment - thermal processing efficiency, temperature field uniformity, and energy consumption. “At most, only two of these three vertices can be met, and the other one will inevitably be compromised.”
Wu Zhen took the current mainstream equipment, the roller hearth kiln, as an example. Without changing the basic structure of the roller hearth kiln, to improve the kiln efficiency, the heating space of the roller hearth kiln, that is, the furnace chamber, needs to be enlarged to accommodate more materials and carriers, which will inevitably lead to a decrease in temperature field uniformity. “Battery materials, especially cathode materials, have very high requirements for temperature field uniformity, at least around ±5°C. According to relevant test results, after the sagger stacking of the current cathode material roller hearth kiln reaches 6 rows and 2 layers, the efficiency and temperature field uniformity have basically reached the bottleneck. This is the most core problem limiting the development of traditional roller hearth kiln technology at present.”
Xinnuo Advanced chose to break away from the conventional thinking of roller hearth kiln equipment and innovated in four aspects: kiln structure, heating layout, material transportation, and air intake and exhaust mechanism. In terms of kiln structure, the layout of the heater and sagger was changed from the horizontal direction of the roller hearth kiln to the vertical direction, stacking upwards. The heating layout was also adjusted accordingly, with the heaters installed vertically, making the furnace chamber structure more compact. The utilization rate of the furnace chamber space increased from 18% of the roller hearth kiln to 50%, which is conducive to energy saving. In terms of material transportation, the roller rods were replaced with trolleys with greater load capacity, which can significantly increase production capacity and avoid equipment operation risks such as broken rods and arched kilns. In the air intake and exhaust mechanism, the efficiency of process gas entering the sagger and the capture efficiency of exhaust gas in the furnace chamber were improved through patented technology.
In terms of heating method, to ensure strict atmosphere control and avoid the interference of airflow on powder materials, Xinnuo Advanced uses an electric heating method, combining convection heat transfer and radiation heat transfer modes. Through a large number of tests and adjustments, a patented heating technology was developed.
Xinnuo Advanced's rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln
It is reported that under the new technical solution, compared with the mainstream roller hearth kiln with 6 rows and 2 layers, Xinnuo Advanced's rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology increases the production capacity by more than 1 time, reduces the floor area by more than 40%, and reduces the overall equipment fixed investment by more than 15%.
Cost reduction and efficiency improvement are the eternal themes of the manufacturing industry. Wu Zhen believes that for materials such as battery materials that are mass-produced, the industry will inevitably continuously promote upstream and downstream enterprises to reduce processing costs and improve efficiency. As the core production equipment for battery materials, industrial kilns must continue to innovate in the direction of cost reduction and efficiency improvement to help material production enterprises increase profit margins and core competitiveness.
II. Based on battery materials, expand the application of solid electrolytes, nanocarbon materials, and ceramic materials
Regarding the competitive advantages of the products, Wu Zhen frankly said that there is no absolute technical barrier in engineering innovation. For Xinnuo Advanced, besides the core patented technology, it mainly occupies the first-mover advantage in technology. “From a market perspective, currently, we are the only one with technology implementation, customer application solutions, and actual operation data.”
Xinnuo Advanced is building a kiloton-level demonstration line in Guangde, Anhui, to meet the testing needs of different customers. The demonstration line is expected to be put into use in mid-July. Currently, several leading companies in the industry are preparing for material-carrying tests.
“To maintain the technological leading advantage, we need to keep moving forward step by step.” Wu Zhen introduced that in addition to the application scenarios of high-temperature calcination of lithium battery and sodium battery cathode materials, the rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology is also applied in scenarios with higher processing temperature requirements, such as the coating and carbonization of fast-charging graphite and the high-temperature treatment of hard carbon for sodium battery anode materials. At the same time, the technical team is also continuously researching and developing the next-generation technology with higher efficiency and lower energy consumption based on this technology platform.
In response to industry hotspots such as new silicon-carbon anode materials, Xinnuo Advanced is cooperating with leading companies in the industry to develop continuous high-temperature heat treatment equipment suitable for porous carbon/mesoporous carbon. At the same time, aiming at the high-temperature heat treatment application scenarios of single-walled carbon nanotubes, sulfide solid electrolytes, and ceramic substrates, it has successively carried out the research and development of new technology platforms and achieved breakthroughs.
Wu Zhen summarized Xinnuo Advanced's current product strategy as “walking on three legs”: First, taking the rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology platform, which has completed technology development and implementation verification and is preparing to enter the mass production stage, as the core, continuously promote the market transformation of battery materials and the development of new application markets. Second, for the new material fields that the country will focus on developing in the future, contact customers for cooperation and conduct technology layout and reserves in advance. Third, in traditional industries such as ceramics, powder metallurgy, and metal heat treatment, give full play to the team's existing technical advantages and project experience to quickly generate actual revenue.
Xinnuo Advanced's technical ability in “vacuum - normal pressure” thermal applications within 2400°C is the technical foundation for its expansion into multi-dimensional application fields. “The core features of our rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology platform are high production capacity, high efficiency, good temperature uniformity, and strong atmosphere control ability, which are very suitable for the high-temperature calcination needs of high-end powder materials.” Wu Zhen gave an example. “If customers want to improve efficiency while having very high requirements for temperature uniformity and atmosphere control, our technology is very suitable.”
In terms of market prediction, Wu Zhen believes that the market potential in the fields of cathode and anode materials for lithium batteries and sodium batteries is still huge. For example, although there is a problem of relative overcapacity in lithium iron phosphate at present, with the technological breakthroughs made by leading companies in high-compaction lithium iron phosphate, it will drive a new round of equipment investment, and its new process requirements are exactly matched with Xinnuo Advanced's rollerless, electrically side-heated trolley kiln technology. When the battery industry returns to the growth stage in the future, the market scale of high-temperature calcination equipment for relevant battery materials is expected to reach tens of billions of yuan.
Based on patent protection and the first-mover advantage in technology, Xinnuo Advanced will continue to explore system optimization to improve equipment efficiency. At the same time, through continuous cooperation with customers, it will identify improvement directions and industry trends and iterate the technology step by step. Wu Zhen expects that in 2025, Xinnuo Advanced is expected to make further progress in commercialization, complete sales contracts of more than 30 million yuan, and achieve positive cash flow.
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This article is from the WeChat official account “36Kr Future Industry”. Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.