12 Silos 7000m³ Lithium Battery Anode Material & Petroleum Coke Storage Silo Project

Steel Silo Storage and Automated Feeding System Design for Lithium Battery Anode Materials

Petroleum Coke and Anode Material Storage Capacity Planning Strategy

Steel Silo Design for Storage of Lithium Battery Anode Material, and for Automation Systems for Material Feeding

Planning Petroleum Coke and Anode Material Storage Systems

This case study examines a lithium battery anode material manufacturing plant located in Qujing, Yunnan Province. The storage system was designed to address two critical bulk materials, petroleum coke and graphite anode raw materials. The client’s manufacturing operations were designed with an upper limit of 100,000 tons per year. An integrated storage silo design was needed that would allow for the unrestricted, continuous operation of the manufacturing plant, along with maintaining the quality of the bulk material, and minimizing the amount of manual work on the storage silo.

In the manufacture of lithium battery materials, petroleum coke is one of the primary source of carbon for the graphitization process. The daily requirement can be in the order of 250-400 tons. Capacity planning for the silo was undertaken with the consideration of the assurance of the continuity of production, the stability of the supply chain, and the turnover of the raw material.

Considerations for the design of storage capacities included the designers maintaining a cushion of between 15-30 days’ worth of raw materials to ensure the manufacturing process was not interrupted due to delays in transportation or changes in the procurement process. Design of the silos was preceded by a simulation of flow. The simulations utilized the bulk density, the angle of repose, and the discharge characteristics of the material.

Structural Design and Clean Storage Requirements for Anode Material Steel Silos

Design Requirements for the Storage of Anode Materials

Manufacturing lithium battery materials requires higher levels of cleanliness for the storage of materials in silos than traditional storage of materials such as cement or grain. Even the smallest trace of contamination can impact the battery performance and consistency of the product.

The steel silo system integrates sealed storage with features for controlled material transfer. For the silo system, surfaces that would contact the anode materials were designed to have little to no accumulation of materials and “dead zones”. To achieve this, connections were designed to have less dust, and openings, for maintenance and inspections, were placed to assist regular maintenance and dust removal.

The tops of the silos were designed with dust collection systems that were linked to central dust collection systems. During pneumatic operations, the concentration of dust was kept below the allowable limits in the environment, resulting in minimal loss of materials. The enclosed steel silo system also assisted with improved housekeeping and reduced material exposure compared to traditional, open storage systems.

Stable Discharge and Anti-Segregation Design for Fine Powders

Discharge of Fine, Poorly Flowable, Carbon Powders

Handling poorly flowable, fine carbon powders presented a significant design challenge due to their particle size of less than 100 microns being prone to bridging and rat-holing in storage, as well as segregation during discharge.

To mitigate this, a variety of flow assistance technologies were designed. The design of the silos was such that the flow characteristic dimension was large enough to ensure that material flowed in mass flow rather than funnel flow. This design also ensured that material did not flow in bulk leaving large voids.

The following design features were also included:

• Mass Flow design: Silos were designed to ensure that in no scenario would there be large voids left and that material would flow.
• Bridging Prevention: Silos were designed with pneumatic and mechanical flow aids to ensure that in no scenario would there be a bridging failure during discharge.
• Segregation Prevention: Silos were designed and built to ensure that during filling there was no dust collection and that segregation of materials would not occur.
• Flow Monitoring Systems: Analyzing discharge data led to increased stability and accuracy of material feed in our processes.
• Integration with Inventory Management Systems: Level measurement in real-time enabled manufacturing scheduling and material traceability.

Consequently, the storage system maintained stable discharge even with continuous production runs beyond 72 hours. The consistency of materials fed to downstream milling, graphitization, and blending processes was also enhanced.

Automated Conveying and Batching System Integration Design

Automated Conveying and Batching System Design Integration

The storage silo system was completely integrated with automated conveying and batching systems in all lines of the anode material production system. Transfer paths for materials were designed to connect raw material reception, storage silos, weighing systems, and processing equipment via enclosed convey systems.

Automated conveying and batching processes were integrated into the control system of the plant, allowing the operators to control several material streams at the same time. High precision weighing systems were implemented to ensure a dosing accuracy of ±0.5% for formulation consistency in battery material.

The convey system was designed to meet an operational range of 20 tons/hour to over 150 tons/hour of material, depending on the process. To meet the requirements of operational redundancy and minimized downtime, the conveying system was designed with redundant conveying lines.

Contact our engineers to design and build a steel silo system that enhances storage and flow efficiency along with the reliability of operation.

How to Achieve Safe Storage and Accurate Feeding of Anode Materials

Dust Control and Material Loss Optimization Solutions

—— How Steel Silo Systems Achieve Safe Storage and Accurate Feeding of Anode Materials

The conveying, storage, and batching systems of fine petroleum coke and graphite powders are challenging because of the dust they create. In lithium battery material systems, dust management systems are critical for environmental compliance, product quality, and employee safety.

The design integrated enclosed material handling systems with advanced dust collection systems that extract and capture dust particles below 10 microns. Negative pressure extraction systems were installed at transfer stations, receiving pits, and during silo filling. This design mitigated dust emissions during material handling and retrieval, and collected lost product during handling.

Continuous measurements showed that material loss remained below 0.3% with a dust collection efficiency of 99.5%.

Anti-Bridging and Uniform Discharge Solutions

Graphite-based powders readily bridge due to their particle structure and low moisture content. These powders required discrete hopper testing and flow computer modeling to ensure proper design. Flow Reliability Measures included:

• Optimized Hopper Geometry
• Flow Assistance Equipment
• Level Monitoring Systems
• Discharge Control Logic

Automated Storage and Batching Management Solutions

Centralized automation of the plant control systems integrated the storage system and tracked in-process inventory, and controlled production scheduling. Integration of the systems provided greater control for flow of raw materials in storage to production.

Automated batching reduced operator interactions and improved batch consistency for multiple production lines. This enabled a raw material management system that was stable and scalable for high volume production of lithium battery materials.

We provide customized steel silo EPC solutions from the engineering design and construction phase to the manufacturing and construction phase. You formulate the necessary details and specifications concerning the required quantity and type of silo and the intended production capacity. Call us today with the details to get plans tailored to your specifications!

Intelligent Upgrade Trends in New Energy Material Storage Systems

Development Trends of Large-Scale Anode Material Storage Facilities

Since the demand for lithium batteries continues to surge, many anode material plants are now scaling to beyond the 100,000–300,000 tons of annual production capacity range. Large scale production plants demand fully automated, highly centralized steel silo storage systems that accommodate large inventories and optimize material logistic flow.

Intelligent Batching and Digital Management Trends

An increasing number of future projects will focus on the integration of real-time production data, automated batching, and intelligent inventory control. Digital management systems will enhance the rational use of raw materials, facilitate traceability, and allow for the implementation of planned maintenance.

High-Cleanliness Storage System Development Trends

Battery material producers are placing more and more importance on contamination and the clean production and handling pathways. Steel silo systems are fully being designed to closed systems with automated cleaning, high filtration, and quality control systems. These systems are being designed to address the increasing production standards for battery materials.