Sumitomo Chemical Plans to Expand Production of Lithium Ion Battery Separators

South Korea: Sumitomo Chemicals, a Tokyo based petrochemicals, plastics, & function materials manufacturer, has planned to invest around USD195 million to increase the production capacity of lithium ion secondary-battery separator which is marketed under the brand name of PERVIO at the South Korea manufacturing plant controlled by SSLM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Chemicals. The company aim is to increase commercial-scale production and is planning to produce around 400 million sq. meters of lithium ion separators annually by the first half of 2018. The separator is majorly used to avoid the fires and short circuits in lithium ion batteries. The increased production would cater to the growing demands for lithium ion batteries, especially for applications in passenger cars in South Korea.

TechSci Research depicts that the expansion of lithium ion battery separators would aid the global lithium ion battery industry. Consequently, growing production of lithium ion battery separators would positively impact the market of specialty carbon black, which is widely used as a conductive material in the production of lithium batteries.

According to the recent report published by TechSci Research “Global Specialty Carbon Black Market By Type, By Application, By Region, Competition Forecast and Opportunities, 2011-2021”, he global specialty carbon black market is poised to surpass US$ 2.9 billion by 2021 on the back of surge in demand for specialty carbon black in emerging economies, especially China and India. On the basis of type, global specialty carbon black market has been segmented into lamp black, acetylene black, conductive blacks and others. In 2015, lamp black accounted for the largest share in global specialty carbon black market due to its extensive range of applications. Globally, plastics is the largest application area for specialty carbon blacks owing to increasing demand for plastic compounds with high jetness and enhanced UV stability.