China's Ansteel commissions 40,000 MT Needle Coke Plant

China's second largest steel manufacturer Angang Steel Company Ltd also known as Ansteel has completed its ambitious project of setting up a needle coke plant with a capacity of 40,000 tonnes, thus marking its entry in the field of carbon materials.

The company had started construction of the project from March 2018 and the estimated investment involved in the same is about RMB 500 million. The plant will manufacture coal-tar pitch based needle coke which is a key raw material for the production of electrodes and lithium ion battery anodes. The plant is spread across an area of 69,000 square metres. The project also includes 120,000 tonnes/year of raw material pre-treatment unit and 90,000 tonnes per year delayed coking unit, raw material-finished product tank area, air compressor station, central, control room etc.

The company as of now plans to focus on the domestic market to sell its needle coke. In the long run the organisation has plans to build graphite electrodes plant and used needle coke for its own GE production. At present Ansteel's electrodes requirement is around 20,000 tonnes per year.

In recent years, with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, the demand for lithium batteries for automobiles has increased rapidly. Apart from this, with increased inclination of the Chinese GE manufacturers to produce UHP grade electrodes, the Ansteel Needle Coke project holds a position of prime importance.

The end user-segment believes that the Ansteel's needle coke is of very good quality which can be used for UHP grade electrodes production and are quite eager to sign contracts with the company to secure stable supply of the needle coke.

Ansteel is major manufacturer of downstream products that includes billets, cold rolled sheets, color coating plates, wire rods, thick plates and heavy rails. The company has its own coal-tar pitch plant (a key raw material for needle coke) with the annual production capacity of 50,000 tonnes.

The needle coke prices in China have remained stable over the past two months. The domestic coal-tar pitch based as well as petroleum based needle coke prices in the country are heard to be in the range RMB 18,000 - 20,000/MT (USD 2,500 - 2,800/MT).