Chisso Corporation Moves into Japan's Secondary Battery Market

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--With the lithium-ion battery (LiB) industry poised for rapid growth worldwide, specifically in Asia, many companies are diversifying into the market. Chemical companies in Japan, in particular, are incorporating unit additions for the production of LiB components, including electrode materials, separators and electrolyte solutions, or are constructing manufacturing facilities for the batteries themselves. Many companies, however, are content to remain as component providers. One such company is Chisso Corporation (Tokyo, Japan), best known as a supplier of liquid crystal used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), polypropylene fibers, and thermo-bondable composite fibers. These fibers have provided the company with a direct way to shed new light on the secondary battery market, as Chisso begins to diversify into the environmental and energy sectors.

In August, Chisso announced that it would be entering the LiB market as part of a collaboration with Porous Power Technologies (PPT) (Boulder, Colorado), which is known for its LiB separator, SYMMETRIX. PPT's LiB separator is microporous and laminable, able to be bonded directly to the electrode material, thus preventing gaps between the electrode and separator. Chisso has been involved in a research and development program headed by Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and has produced new variants of SYMMETRIX. The new separator is a single-layer polyolefin that yields a good balance of rigidity and flexibility, and is capable of considerably extending battery life and capacity. The polyolefin separator has a low thermal contraction rate, and has been able to prevent problems associated with overheating and overcharging.

Chisso will begin constructing a pilot-scale line addition for LiB polyolefin separators next year at its Goikaigan chemical facility in Ichihara, Chiba, which is east of Tokyo. The Chisso-PPT collaboration will break into the Japanese LiB industry with 10 million square meters per year of the new separator material in mid-2012, and plans to scale the line if all goes well. Project manager Ken Shimizu mentioned that Chisso plans to become more involved in the Japanese LiB market in the near future, as the company has announced the formation of a joint venture company, CS Energy Materials Limited (Tokyo, Japan) with H.C. Starck GmbH (Goslar, Germany). CS Energy will focus on the development of cathode materials.

Shimizu also has mentioned that, despite the potential to do so, Chisso has no intentions to make whole battery units in the near future. Currently, the company is content to remain as a component provider for the Japanese LiB market to prevent market oversaturation.

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