The Winners Are Set to Be Announced for the Energy Storage Awards!

Energy Storage Awards, 21 November 2024, Hilton London Bankside

Upstream: Prussian blue production for Natron sodium-ion batteries starts; Mitra Chem hires Bechtel to design LFP cathode facility in US

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Manufacturing firm Arxada has started producing Prussian Blue materials for Natron sodium-ion battery production while US-based Mitra Chem has hired EPC firm Bechtel to design its LFP cathode facility.

Sodium-ion battery company Natron has secured a deal with Switzerland-based Arxada for the latter to begin producing battery-grade Prussian blue material at its facility in Visp, in the Canton of Valais.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The facility will immediately begin supplying Natron with the materials for it to produce up to 600MW of its sodium-ion batteries annually, when its own facility in Michigan opens in 2023.

Meanwhile, US company Mitra Chem has awarded a front-end engineering design (FEED) contract to the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and project management firm Bechtel for its cathode manufacturing facility in Mountain View, California.

The facility is expected to start production of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathodes on a commercial scale by 2025, although has already started small production for customer qualification.

Natron’s battery chemistry seeks to displace lithium-ion

Natron, also based in California, says it is the only company shipping UL-listed sodium-ion battery products in the marketplace.

Sodium-ion is one of the non-lithium battery chemistries with the most immediate roadmap to large-scale production, with 5-10GWh of global manufacturing capacity expected by 2025, according to Max Reid, research analyst in Wood Mackenzie’s Battery & Raw Materials Service segment.

Various industry sources Energy-Storage.news has spoken with, including major battery storage system integrators, have said they are watching the sodium-ion space closely.

Natron says its battery grade Prussian blue has a chemical composition which results in breakthrough battery performance, allowing full charge and discharge in minutes for “tens of thousands of cycles”. It said the material can be manufactured at high volume and low cost in existing fin chemical plants, and does not require mined ore or rare minerals.

Other firms looking to bring sodium-ion batteries to large-scale production include China’s CATL, the world’s biggest lithium battery manufacturer, and UK-based firms AMTE Power and Faradion (recently acquired by Indian conglomerate Reliance).

The agreement between Natron and Arxada for the supply of Prussian blue was announced in April 2021, when Arxada was called Lonza Specialty Ingredients before a rebrand (having previously been part of manufacturing giant Lonza Group).

Mitra Chem moving forward with US-made LFP cathode materials

Mitra Chem’s appointment of Bechtel follows closely on from an announcement that it had begun shipments of its LFP materials to a Tier 1 global battery cell manufacturer for customer approval and qualification. Those are being produced in its Mountain View facility.

The firm said that the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act has ‘supercharged demand’ for US-made battery materials thanks to consumer tax credits tied to US-manufactured materials usage. It claimed that it has has additional requests for samples to cover the next seven months from “nearly every” global Tier 1 battery cell maker and multiple automotive OEMS.

As part of the first phase of the LFP manufacturing plant project, Bechtel will adopt Mitra Chem’s cathode making process to design the manufacturing facility and perform planning for the commercial facility.

Justin Britt, general manager of Bechtel’s electric vehicle business said: “Bechtel’s proven processes and innovations will ensure Mitra Chem continues accelerating its time-to-market timeline to deliver batteries critical to the expansion of EVs and electric storage capacity in the United States.”

Manufacturing firm Arxada has started producing Prussian blue materials for Natron sodium-ion battery production while US-based Mitra Chem has hired EPC firm Bechtel to design its LFP cathode facility.

18 March 2025
Austin, Texas
The Energy Storage Summit USA is the only place where you are guaranteed to meet all the most important investors, developers, IPPs, RTOs and ISOs, policymakers, utilities, energy buyers, service providers, consultancies and technology providers in one room, to ensure that your deals get done as efficiently as possible. Book your ticket today to join us in 2025!
18 March 2025
Sydney, Australia
As we move into 2025, Australia is seeing real movement in emerging as a global ‘green’ superpower, with energy storage at the heart of this. This Summit will explore in-depth the ‘exponential growth of a unique market’, providing a meeting place for investors and developers’ appetite to do business. The second edition will shine a greater spotlight on behind-the-meter developments, with the distribution network being responsible for a large capacity of total energy storage in Australia. Understanding connection issues, the urgency of transitioning to net zero, optimal financial structures, and the industry developments in 2025 and beyond.
27 May 2025
London, UK
At the time of writing, Europe had had its most successful year in terms of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with a record 7.8GW of renewable energy contracts signed. As we gather in May 2024 for the third edition of the Renewable Energy Revenues Summit, the energy landscape continues to evolve rapidly, influenced by the beating drum of climate change, volatility around power prices and the need to decarbonise power procurement as well as generation.

Read Next

November 8, 2024
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) said increased energy storage capacity will be essential to manage daily and seasonal variations in output on the National Electricity Market (NEM).
November 7, 2024
NYSE-listed battery startup Freyr has pivoted strategy and acquired a 5GW solar module facility in Texas, US, from Chinese firm Trina Solar, the same day that Donald Trump was declared to have won the presidential election (6 November).
Premium
November 7, 2024
Aypa Power has negotiated two resource adequacy agreements with Pacific Gas & Electric covering 500MW/2,000MWh of energy storage from two standalone BESS projects in the Californian cities of Industry and Irwindale.
November 7, 2024
Victoria, Australia, has secured the largest allocation of dispatchable power in the upcoming Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS), with 1.7GW/6.8GWh for energy storage.
November 6, 2024
The City of Green Bay in Wisconsin, US, has granted a Conditional Use Permit for a large-scale battery storage project proposed by a subsidiary of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).

Most Popular

Email Newsletter