Energy Consumption and Carbon Emission Analysis of Natural Graphite Anode Material for Lithium Batteries

Abstract

The production process of nature graphite anode material is divided into four stages, namely mining, beneficiation, purification and processing. Carbon emission and energy consumption during the whole process were quantified and analyzed in this study. The energy consumption and pollutant emissions in the production process were calculated in accordance with the method of life cycle assessment, and the carbon emission analysis was conducted by IPCC method. The life cycle energy consumption of 1 ton natural graphite anode material is 112.48GJ, and the processing stage contributes 41.71%. The results show that coke oven gas and raw coal are the main energy consumption in the whole life cycle of natural graphite anode material, which account for 32.33% and 23.41% of the total energy consumption, respectively. Furthermore, the carbon emission of 1 ton of natural graphite anode material is 5315.91kgCO2-eq, and mainly comes from raw coal and electricity which contribute 23.98% and 20.99% to the total carbon emission respectively, and CO2 is the largest carbon emission contributed 98.69% to total carbon emission. Finally, the carbon emissions are sensitive to the coke oven gas, raw coal, diesel and electricity, and insensitive to fuel oil.