On September 8th, ExxonMobil Corp. (Houston) entered into an agreement to acquire the technology and U.S.-based assets of Superior Graphite, along with select international offices. Superior Graphite is a leader in the graphite industry with more than 100 years of experience in graphite and materials production.
This move marks a major milestone in ExxonMobil’s strategy to build a robust, synthetic graphite supply chain. Compared to traditional mining operations, synthetic graphite is less labor-intensive, more consistent in quality, and can be made with our carbon-rich feedstocks from existing refining streams. What does that mean in plain English? That we can scale faster and smarter, all while producing a better graphite than what is available in the market today.
Synthetic graphite can play a critical role in the energy transition. It’s a key component in electric vehicles and battery energy stationary storage solutions. Specifically, it is used in the anode of the battery and plays a big role in total battery performance. We anticipate the demand for higher performance batteries will continue to grow, therefore also increasing demand for higher performance graphite materials.
Superior Graphite brings deep industry know-how, valuable intellectual property and a proven process that’s expected to be:
- Less energy-intensive
- More land-efficient
- Higher throughput