Epsilon Carbon, a carbon black company, in joint venture (JV) with The Metals Company Inc is planning to make an investment of Rs 1,200 crore for setting up world’s first commercial polymetallic nodule processing plant in India.
The focus of this JV will be to produce cathode precursors with the lowest carbon footprint. These cathode precursors will be converted to cathode active materials at the proposed facility.
Epsilon Carbon will process one million tpa of dry nodules to create a production capacity of over 30,000 tonne of an intermediate nickel-copper-cobalt matte product per annum.
This product is ideal to be used for active cathode material in lithium-ion batteries (LiBs).
Epsilon Carbon is scouting for land in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh to set up the plant and will provide the raw material for battery cell manufacturers.
The company has a patented process to convert coal tar waste to synthetic graphite for use as anodes in LiBs and is currently the only graphite anode manufacturer in India.