Nouveau Monde adds high-tech battery lab

Nouveau Monde Graphite Inc. Oct. 5 reports the commissioning of a new state-of-the-art lab at its demonstration plant at the company's Matawinie graphite project in Saint-Michel-des-Saints, Canada, to provide in-house capabilities to carry out research and development on advanced anode materials to deliver customized specifications to battery and electric vehicle manufacturers.

"EV and battery manufacturers are seeking advanced solutions that provide the ideal combination of quality, performance, cost, weight, carbon footprint, material interaction, and countless other factors," said Nouveau Monde Graphite President and CEO Eric Desaulniers. "In-house R&D capability represents an advantage in catering to our potential customers' requirements while continuing to advance our products portfolio for the growing battery supply chain industry."

As applications diversify, technology has quickly become the critical driver in battery material engineering and manufacturing.

The new lab facilities comprise ultramodern equipment covering a range of technical measurements, namely particle size, tapped density, coin cell cycling with full coin cell preparation, ICP (inductively coupled plasma) trace element analysis, BET (Brunauer, Emmett, Teller) specific surface area as well as particle morphology, coating quality, and impurity analysis by SEM-EDX (scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray).

Ultimately, Nouveau Monde is fully equipped to prepare precisely what is needed and wanted for its customers.

"At the forefront of technology advancements, Nouveau Monde is positioning itself as more than a graphite producer; we are one of the Western World's leading advanced battery material developers striving to deliver the greenest graphite-based solutions," added Desaulniers.

In addition to the laboratory, Nouveau Monde has also recruited two expert talents, Mogalahalli Venkatashamy Reddy and Neel Rahem, to complement its strong internal team consisting of six Doctorate recipients, three Masters of Science holders, and 18 engineers with previous hands-on experience with leading graphite operators and specialists in the fields of lithium-ion batteries, carbon materials, bi-polar plates, electrochemistry, and engineered advanced materials.

"Today's investment in R&D is tomorrow's competitive advantage in the marketplace. We continue our confidential and proprietary development efforts with a view to supporting the world's leading lithium-ion battery makers and intend to continue investing in cutting-edge technology with the support of best-in-class scientists and engineers," said Nouveau Monde Graphite Chairman Arne Frandsen. "Nouveau Monde's mission is to engineer graphite-based advanced solutions to power a decarbonized future."