Read the Full Article by Geoff Giordano on Battery Technology
Changing the way the world makes battery materials has been Nano One’s mission since its founding in 2011. The Canadian company’s proprietary One-Pot Cathode Active Material (CAM) process offers a host of advantages – reducing battery manufacturing cost, complexity, energy intensity, wastewater and environmental footprint.
“The most expensive and complex component of a battery is the cathode active material, which is made using a process that hasn't changed for 30 years,” explained Nano One Chief Commercialization Officer Denis Geoffroy.
Since its launch in Burnaby, British Columbia, Nano One has amassed 40 patents global patents for its core technologies – and more than 55 others are pending. By 2035, Nano One is targeting over $150 billion in licensing and production opportunities in North America, the EU and the Indo-Pacific.
Nano One also has the only lithium iron phosphate (LFP) production facility in North America and the most experienced LFP team outside Asia. LFP was first made commercially viable in Quebec in the 2000s by Phostech, which Nano One has owned since 2022.
The One-Pot Difference
Nano One’s One-Pot technology “is a manufacturing process that combines all of the raw material inputs in a single chemical reaction prior to high-efficiency thermal processing to make cathode active materials – a black powder essential for battery production,” Geoffroy explained. “This eliminates the generation of sodium sulphate wastewater while reducing complexity, costs, footprint and energy intensity compared to incumbent processes. One-Pot-enabled production facilities could also be easier to permit, construct and operate.”
Nano One’s One-Pot technology combines all raw materials in a single chemical reaction prior to high-efficiency thermal processing to make cathode active materials – a black powder essential for battery production.
The process is a platform technology and can handle various cathode chemistries, including iron-rich (LFP), nickel-rich and manganese-rich compositions.
Nano One’s patented One-Pot process for LFP can enable numerous savings, according to a cost-comparison study with Worley Chemetics:
- At least 30% lower costs in total invested capital.
- Up to 30% lower operational costs.
- Up to 80% less energy usage.
One-Pot also eliminates sodium sulphate wastewater and could use up to 80% less process water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50% depending on energy sources and jurisdiction.
Manufacturing Capabilities
Nano One purchased its LFP production facility in Candiac, a Montreal suburb, in 2022.
“We purchased the facility and secured the team of experts and decommissioned the large parts of the facility that were used for wastewater handling but no longer needed,” Geoffroy recalled. “We have since recommissioned 200 tpa (tons per annum) of capacity and will ramp that up to 600 tpa in 2025 – and ultimately back to 1000 tpa or more.
The Candiac plant is central to the company’s “Design Once Build Many” license growth strategy.
The One-Pot Cathode Active Material process of Canada’s Nano One reduces battery manufacturing cost, complexity, energy intensity, wastewater and environmental footprint.
Nano One and engineering partner Worley Chemetics are collaborating on the development, marketing and licensing of a modular 25,000 tpa process design package that includes patent rights, flow sheets, engineering, know-how and major pieces of equipment, Geoffroy said. Target customers include existing cathode producers, energy companies and large-scale industrial organizations looking for techno-economic advantages in the large-scale production of cathode materials used in battery applications for EVs and stationary energy storage systems.
Broader Goals
To advance its ambitious goals, Nano One packages its technology into the design of CAM plants. These plants can be made up of 1 modular unit of 25,000 tpa and allow customers to expand their operations to 100,000 tpa or more as demand grows.
“We aim to license these plants to as many cathode producers as possible to drive wide-scale adoption and truly change how the world makes battery materials,” Geoffroy explained.
Core to that licensing strategy is a level of R&D investment in personnel and continuous innovation.
“We must offer our customers value-added technology and know-how that helps them maintain their competitiveness. Our R&D efforts will focus on process simplification, supply-chain security, cost, recyclability, energy reduction, environmental benefits, next-gen battery chemistries – and ultimately better value cathodes.”
Key Relationships
Working with sector collaborators such as Sumitomo Metal Mining and Rio Tinto, along with financial and policy support from the government of Québec and Canada and the U.S. Department of Defense, “we are making great inroads,” Geoffroy said.
Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining companies in the world, owns approximately 5% of Nano One. “Our collaboration is exploring iron ore mined and refined in Quebec as a source of high-purity iron metal powder input to the One-Pot process for the cleanest, lowest-carbon and most localized LFP supply chain in North America,” Geoffroy said.
Japan’s Sumitomo, a vertically integrated miner, refiner and producer of cathode active materials, also owns approximately 5% of Nano One. “We are working together to accelerate the commercial production of LFP, CAM and nickel-rich CAM chemistries such as lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide. Additionally, we will look to explore business development opportunities, including sales and technology licensing, while also forging long-term partnerships and identifying potential investment and financing opportunities to expand operations.”
Combined, Nano One’s efforts aim to achieve battery material production “in a responsible, sustainable manner to help the world reach its environmental targets,” Geoffroy concluded.
