Test work is about to start on ASX-listed Quantum Graphite’s coarse flake graphite as part of its thermal energy storage pilot partnership project with Melbourne-based Sunlands Company.
The ultra-high temperature testing is a critical step in the project to manufacture long-duration energy devices, potentially playing an integral role in delivering stable and flexible energy to grids dependent on renewable power.
The 50-50 partnership between the two Melbourne companies. aims to break into the burgeoning renewable power generation market using Quantum’s graphite to manufacture Sunlands’ thermal energy storage battery cells.
As renewables such as solar and wind increasingly contribute to the electric grid, the associated uneven and seasonal power generation without suitable storage capabilities presents a critical power problem for which the partnership offers a solution.
The work is to be done by the Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials, or “INEMET” in Germany to assess various specifications of the Quantum’s coarse flake graphite sourced from its Uley 2 deposit on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia.
The flake samples have been received by INEMET and are being prepared for the initial test work scheduled for next week. The project partners completed the main test work design in May, however INEMET will put the samples through refined thermal treatment cycles reaching 2200 degrees.
The high operating temperatures of the program were designed to simulate the operating conditions within a thermal energy cell during its charging and discharging stages and will provide valuable data beyond that collected during Sunlands’ previous study using temperatures to 1500 degrees.
The data is considered valuable by the partnership to optimise the energy storage media, a key component in the battery cell.
In addition, Quantum believes it could use the data to potentially increase the purity of its product and consequently estimate prices achievable in the market.
Successful completion of the testing will expedite commercialisation of the technology following the operational phase of the pilot plant.
Whilst the partners expect initial results by mid-August, Quantum will continue its pursuit of financing the company’s Uley 2 operation, upgrading its feasibility study to encompass expanded production and increase its resources and reserves of graphite.
Quantum’s Uley 2 project was one of three graphite ventures listed in the Federal Government’s Critical Minerals Prospectus last year and holds a resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 11.1 per cent total graphitic carbon for a total of 672 thousand tonnes of contained graphite.
Quantum believes the use of graphite in thermal storage media will contribute to the long-term growth in demand for its its flake graphite, with at least 100,000 tonnes required annually to meet Australia’s net-zero by 2050 plan.
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