Corn starch transforms into high-end new material

The pure white corn starch is slowly pushed into the production workshop, and after a series of processes such as stirring, carbonization, activation, and purification, the black powder is packaged and transported away. Shanxi Zhongke Meijin Charcoal Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongke Meijin), located in Qingxu County, Shanxi Province, has transformed corn starch into a new material - supercapacitor charcoal through continuous technological research and development.

It is understood that supercapacitor carbon materials are mainly used in supercapacitors, which are a new type of energy storage device that can store tens of thousands of times more energy than traditional capacitors. They have both the characteristics of fast charging and discharging of capacitors and the energy storage characteristics of batteries, with advantages such as high power and long cycle life. Currently, supercapacitors have been applied in some important fields.

For example, the lithium batteries we use for mobile phones now take about an hour to fully charge, but supercapacitors can be fully charged in less than a minute, and their performance is basically not compromised regardless of cold or heat, "said Zhu Qinghua, General Manager of Zhongke Meijin.

As the core raw material of supercapacitors, the quality of supercapacitor carbon directly determines the working ability and service life of supercapacitors. In the past, the super capacitor carbon used in China was mainly imported. Since 2015, Shanxi Institute of Coal Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been engaged in tackling key problems in the localization technology of capacitor carbon. After trial and error in hundreds of raw materials, it has finally found the most reasonable raw material - corn starch, and successfully moved the product from the laboratory to the factory.

The transition from raw materials to new materials is the result of continuous technological breakthroughs. The activation process requires high temperature and strong corrosive additives, so the requirements for the equipment are very high. We keep improving the equipment; the purification process requires the removal of metal ions from the pores on the carbon surface, and the removal of oxygen-containing functional groups during the passivation process. These are our core technologies, "said Shi Jiulong, the production manager of Zhongke Meijin.

From the 10 ton pilot line to the 500 ton batch production line, the supercapacitor charcoal produced by Zhongke Meijin has been tested in multiple downstream enterprises. Most of the indicators are the same as mainstream Japanese products, and some indicators exceed foreign products. The application certificate of Ningbo CRRC New Energy shows that "after testing, the specific surface area, ash content, metal ion content and other indicators of the capacitor carbon meet the company's requirements

As a new material, the production of supercapacitor carbon is also a process of doubling the value of raw materials. The price of one ton of corn starch is only over 3000 yuan, while the price of one ton of capacitor carbon exceeds 200000 yuan. Producing one ton of capacitor carbon requires 4 tons of corn starch and other additives, which also reflects the value of new materials, "said Shi Jiulong.

In recent years, Qingxu Economic Development Zone has continued to transform and enhance traditional industries such as coal chemical industry, and cultivate and strengthen emerging industries such as carbon based new materials. We adhere to leading industrial innovation with technological innovation and promoting the close integration of 'colleges, development zones, and enterprises' in the innovation consortium. The corn starch based supercapacitor carbon produced by Zhongke Meijin is considered by the China Petrochemical Federation as the first of its kind in China and a major breakthrough in industrial transformation, "said Chen Xiaoyong, Director of the Qingxu Economic Development Zone Management Committee.

At present, supercapacitors have a very broad application prospect in various fields, and have been applied in important areas and links such as rail transit, urban public transportation, smart grid, consumer electronics, etc. Supercapacitors will also usher in a broad market.