Lithium battery separator demand will be the main method of humidification

The separator is the highest technical barrier among the four materials of lithium ion batteries . The preparation methods mainly include wet method and dry method. Its cost is second only to the positive electrode material, about 10%-14%, and in some high-end batteries, the proportion even reaches 20%. The importance of the separator for lithium-ion batteries is self-evident.

However, it is more critical that the performance of the separator determines the critical characteristics of the capacity, cycle performance, charge and discharge current density of the lithium ion battery, and therefore requires the separator to have a suitable thickness, ion permeability, pore size and porosity and sufficient Chemical stability, thermal stability and mechanical stability and safety.

Due to the high performance requirements of the diaphragm, the technological level of the diaphragm in China has also experienced a difficult period of development. At present, the dry diaphragm has made a major breakthrough, forming its own technical system, the import substitution is basically completed, and the mainstream dry method battery factory adopts the domestic diaphragm.

However, in the field of wet diaphragm, domestic diaphragm enterprises are limited by many factors such as process and technology, and the product level is still low. The production equipment mainly relies on imports. At present, the high-end battery separator market is still dominated by overseas companies, Japan's Asahi Kasei, Japan's Dongfang, the United States Celgard (in February 2015 by the wet technology representative company Asahi Kasei acquisition, dry production discontinued, new wet production line), SKI, W -scope, Japan Ube basically formed a monopoly.

Among them, Japan Ube mainly produces dry diaphragms, and Japan's Asahi Kasei, Toray, South Korea SK and other companies mainly produce wet diaphragms. The high temperature and anti-extrusion performance of its products is much higher than that of domestic similar products. For diaphragm and pore size control technologies, domestic diaphragm companies need to accelerate their catch.

Future wet diaphragm will lead ultra-dry diaphragm into the market

In the new new energy vehicle subsidy policy, battery energy density has become one of the important indicators of subsidies, and the ternary battery will become the mainstream market in the future due to its high energy density, but the premise is that the safety problem of the ternary battery is solved. Just the wet diaphragm coating technology can solve this problem perfectly. It can be foreseen that with the popularization and application of the ternary power lithium battery field, the market share of the wet diaphragm will further increase, and its scale growth rate will far exceed the dry diaphragm, which will usher in explosive growth.

According to the survey data, the output of China's diaphragm manufacturers in 2016 was 929 million square meters, of which the wet diaphragm production reached 390 million square meters, accounting for 42%, surpassing the dry single-pull diaphragm and becoming the main supply type of the diaphragm market. Industry organizations expect that domestic demand will reach 700 million in 2017, the market size will be about 4 billion, the world will be 1.4 billion, and the market size will be about 8 billion.

Although the future market demand for wet diaphragm will increase greatly and the prospects are high, there is no large-scale wet-leaf leading enterprise in China, which has low concentration and fierce competition. China is controlling the strength, pore size and pore size of diaphragm products. There is still a big gap between the technology of rate consistency and foreign countries, and the consistency of product batches needs to be improved.

Diaphragm enterprise survival status

Innovative shares: announced on May 2 that it intends to acquire 100% of Shanghai Enjie with a total consideration of RMB 5.55 billion. Innovative shares are one of the few companies producing cigarette film in China, and one of the few companies capable of producing anti-counterfeiting printing film. The acquisition of Shanghai Enjie is intended to expand the business map and sit on the throne of a world-class wet-membrane supplier.

Shanghai Enjie is China's largest lithium-ion wet diaphragm company, a leading domestic wet diaphragm manufacturer. In 2016, Shanghai Enjie wet diaphragm shipments reached 92 million square meters, ranking first in the country. After the expansion, the company's production capacity was 1.32 billion square meters, ranking first in the world.

Mingzhou Pearl: announced on July 19 that the company's "60 million square meters of wet lithium-ion battery separator project" has been completed and officially put into production according to the project implementation plan.

At the same time, the first production line of the “10-million-square-meter wet-process lithium-ion battery separator project” invested by its subsidiary, Zhangzhou Mingzhu Lithium Battery Co., Ltd., has been officially put into operation, and the other two production lines are still in accordance with the project. The plan is under implementation.

On August 18th, “2017 China New Energy Automobile Industry Ecology Conference and the 6th China Lithium Power New Energy Industry Ecology Summit” was opened in depth. Gu Chuanming, deputy general manager of Zhangzhou Pearl, said at the meeting that it is expected that by the end of 2023, Zhangzhou Pearl’s dry diaphragm With an annual output of 300 million square meters, the wet diaphragm has an annual output of 1.05 billion square meters, and the coating capacity of ceramics and various polymers is 900 million square meters. He also said that Zhangzhou Pearl will continue to increase investment during this period to ensure that it is the first in China and the top three in the world.

Sinoma Technology: On July 25, Sinoma Technology's new wet-line lithium battery separator production line with a single-line capacity of 60 million square meters entered the commissioning.

We learned that the production line that entered this commissioning is the construction project of the 240 million square meter lithium battery separator production line that was established and implemented in March 2016. The project has built four lithium battery separator production lines, including two single-line production capacity of 40 million square meters, two single-line production capacity of 60 million square meters, and four ceramic coating production lines with a production capacity of 40 million square meters. According to the plan, 120 million square meters will be completed and put into operation in the second half of this year, and another 120 million square meters will be completed and put into operation in the first half of next year.

Star Source Material: In 2016, the company's dry process capacity was 130 million square meters, and the wet process capacity was 26 million square meters.

The Hefei Xingyuan, which is jointly invested by the company and Guoxuan Hi-Tech, will build 2 lines of 40 million square meters of wet diaphragm production line and 4 ceramic coating production lines. Currently, one production line has been put into operation in July. It is expected to be in September. It can be officially supplied in batches.

On June 28, 2017, Xingyuan Materials invested in a diaphragm project in Changzhou with a total investment of 3 billion yuan. The first phase of the project will invest 1.6 billion yuan. After the completion of the project, it is expected to produce 360 ​​million flat wet diaphragms per year. It is planned to build 8 sets of wet diaphragm membrane main lines and 24 multi-functional coated diaphragm production lines. It is expected to be divided into two in 2018 and 2019. It is put into production.

On August 9, 2017, Xingyuan Materials announced that it plans to raise 480 million yuan for non-public offering of shares for the annual production of 360 million lithium-ion wet diaphragm and coated diaphragm project.

In the second half of the year, the star source material will work together in the dry and wet diaphragm to ensure higher growth throughout the year. Xingyuan Material is not only a listed company and a leading enterprise in China's lithium battery separator materials, but also has 80 invention patents. The largest number of domestic diaphragm companies, solid technology accumulation, and excellent performance of the company's diaphragm products have strong product bargaining power.

The company's current customers are mainly LG Chem Ltd (customer sales accounted for 23.5%), BYD (customer sales accounted for 21.2%), Guoxuan Hi-Tech (customer sales accounted for 19.3%), Tianjin Lishen (customer sales accounted for 12.1%) Tianjin Jiewei (customer sales accounted for 4.3%). And currently the sole supplier of dry diaphragm for LG power batteries.

Capacity planning of domestic wet diaphragm manufacturers:

Lithium battery separator demand will increase greatly, wet method is the king

Survey data show that, by 2016, the global lithium battery separator production was 1.719 billion square meters, an increase of 20.92%; China lithium battery separator production was 929 million square meters, an increase of 33.03%. It is estimated that by 2020, the global lithium battery separator production will reach 3.967 billion square meters, and China's lithium battery separator production will reach 2.545 billion square meters.

It can be seen that China's lithium battery separator industry will explode in the next three years. Due to the high price of the wet diaphragm, the wet diaphragm will continue to take the high-end market route in the power battery in the future, while the low-end power battery will still be based on the dry method. However, the domestic diaphragm products are mainly used in the middle and low-end areas. With the operation of the diaphragm production line, the low-end field will usher in a large-scale cleaning. SMEs lacking technology, less brand and short capital may be eliminated.

The wet diaphragm is the highest barrier among the four major materials of lithium batteries. In the mid-to-high-end market, which is currently monopolized by foreign diaphragm companies, domestic enterprises still want to improve a lot in terms of product stability and consistency. The rate and other aspects should be further improved, and joint efforts should be made to eliminate the last position of lithium battery material import replacement. Before the domestic diaphragm companies broke out in the wet diaphragm market, very early entrants will occupy a favorable position in the competition.

According to the survey data, the technical trend of lithium-ion separators in the future will tend to be thinner and lighter, coating technology will be widely used, and diaphragm matrix materials will be expanded.

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