Mahon plant held production ceremony to add 50,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide annual production capacity

On October 30, the commissioning ceremony of the Ganfeng lithium industry project with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons of lithium hydroxide was held at the Mahon factory in Xinyu, Jiangxi province. The project covers an area of 292mu and the construction area is about 120000 square meters. after it is put into production, the Mahon plant will increase the annual production capacity of 50, 000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, with a total design capacity of 81000 tons, ranking first in the world.

At the commissioning ceremony, leaders of Xinyu City, such as Jiang Bin, Xu Hong, Chen Wenhua, Li Bingping, Yu Guojie, Shu Yongzhong, Nie Zhixin, Zhang Tao, Zeng Shaozhong, and Ganfeng lithium industry leaders such as Li Liangbin attended, and expressed ardent expectations for the vigorous development of Mahon factory, Ganfeng lithium industry, and even Xinyu new energy industry.

"the construction of the 10,000-ton lithium salt project is of milestone significance in the development of the Ganfeng lithium industry, promoting the optimization and adjustment of the industrial chain structure of the enterprise, transforming from single metal lithium products to diversified lithium products, and extending from the middle industry to the upstream industry. Ganfeng lithium industry has become the world's leading producer of lithium compounds." Li Liangbin, chairman of Ganfeng Lithium Industry, said in his speech.

From 0 to 1

If the two generations of Ganfeng's main products battery-grade lithium carbonate and battery-grade lithium hydroxide represent industry standards, then the Mahon plant is the engine that continues to push up industry standards.

Mahone plant was built in 2012, at the beginning of the construction is Xinyu City "10 billion project" key construction project, is listed as the "national 2012 key industry revitalization and technological transformation project". At that time, Ganfeng Lithium Industry's battery-grade lithium carbonate products were widely praised in the industry, and battery-grade lithium hydroxide had just been developed (in Chengdong factory).

"We realized the market prospect of lithium hydroxide, so we began to lay out," Li Liangbin's memory of eight years ago is as clear as it happened yesterday.

In 2013, the Mahon factory was completed.

In 2014, battery-grade lithium hydroxide was successfully put into production.

In 2016, the designed production capacity of lithium hydroxide reached 11000 tons.

In 2018, the second phase of Mahon was completed, and the production capacity of lithium hydroxide increased by 20,000 tons.

"in 2020, with the commissioning of the Mahone lithium hydroxide project with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons, the battery-grade lithium hydroxide production capacity has reached a new level," said Luo Guanghua, head of the design department.

Today, Mahone's products include battery-grade lithium hydroxide, battery-grade lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and other compounds, which are widely used in new energy vehicles, 3C batteries, chemical pharmaceuticals, chemical manufacturing and other fields, providing power battery materials and new energy solutions for world-renowned companies such as Tesla, BMW, Volkswagen and LG Chemical.

Make the best quality products

"in order to ensure the quality of our products, our materials come from Australian mines that are owned by the group or have signed underwriting agreements," says Wang Bin, general manager of the Mahon factory. Mahon's quality control begins with the selection of raw materials.

Transformation roasting, sulfuric acid acidizing roasting, precise regulation of sodium and potassium, liquid-solid combined cycle demagnetization. After complex processing, the battery-grade lithium hydroxide produced has to pass strict product testing before it can be called a qualified product.

Behind this series of production processes, the Mahon factory's excellent management team and leading technology are supported.

"it may be the tradition of Gan Feng. Starting from Boss Li (Li Liangbin), all our managers actually come from technical positions, so they attach great importance to technological research and development, and have clear incentives." Wang Bin described the Mahon factory in his eyes, "so like Luo Guanghua, there are a lot of technicians who have been working in Ganfeng for 20 years."

Mahon factory technology is not achieved overnight. "at that time, in order to solve the problem of lithium hydroxide impurities, Ma Hong's management and his technical team worked overtime on the production line for a month, working overtime day and night," Deng Zhaonan, vice president of Gan Feng, recalled at the quality month activity. The technical team almost issued a military writ. "We must overcome difficulties and start production smoothly."

Such a story takes place in every product development process, from the initial removal of silicon impurities to the later control of magnetic foreign bodies. Managers lead the charge, technicians forget to eat and sleep, they share the same desire, and overcome one industry problem after another, and their technical ability increases steadily.

With the combination of materials, management and technology, Mahon's battery-grade lithium hydroxide products have the characteristics of low impurity content, good consistency, uniform particle size distribution, low magnetism and so on, and can provide customized services according to customer requirements.

Today, Gan Feng has presided over (participated in) the formulation of "lithium hydroxide monohydrate" (GB/T 8766-2013) and other national (industry) standards. "Let the quality of Ganfeng become the industry standard", the expectation of Wang Xiaoshen, vice president of Ganfeng, is becoming a reality.

Be responsible for the industry

In the description of Gan Feng and the leaders and technical backbones of Mahon factory, "customer" is the most frequent word:

"with the development of the industry, the requirements of customers are actually increasing all the time."

"the strict requirements of our customers make us grow."

"products should meet the highest requirements of customers."

"getting customer recognition is our greatest value."

……

As an upstream enterprise of new energy, the products produced by Mahon factory are affecting the final quality of power batteries and new energy vehicles. "responsible for customers, that is, responsible for the whole industry" is the aspiration of every Ganfeng technical and production staff.

Adhering to the sustainable development strategy is also another manifestation of Mahon's responsibility to the industry. Only by realizing the balance among society, economy and environment, can enterprises maintain a healthy growth trend. Among the three, environmental friendliness is always the most basic requirement.

The whole plant promotes the conversion of coal to gas, using natural gas instead of coal as the main energy; condensed water to achieve 100% recovery and recycling; encourage the use of by-products, such as Yuanming powder and calcium sulfate slag produced in the production process, transport to cement, washing powder and other industries, only in 2019, enterprises provide 540000 tons of by-products to the cement industry, equivalent to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 93700.

In 2017, the Mahon factory was rated as a "green factory", and sustainable development measures were recognized by the industry.

During the eight years from obscurity to industry leadership, based on the long-term vision of the management, the Fupan Mahon plant has shifted its focus to battery-grade lithium hydroxide, complying with the market trend; the integration of the management team and the technical team has enabled the product research and development to overcome many difficult problems and be able to produce in large quantities; under the tireless efforts of every technical, marketing, after-sales and logistics personnel, the product quality has been continuously improved. Success seems to be accidental, but in fact there are inevitable reasons.

"in the future, the Mahon base will continue to take customer requirements as the first standard, develop new technologies, optimize old processes, and produce the best lithium products in the market," Wang Bin said, which is also the aspiration of all Mahon staff.