Stora Enso prepares to commercialise wood-based battery material

Finnish forestry company Stora Enso says its lignin-based battery material is nearly ready for commercial production, Yle reports. The material, called Lignode, is made from lignin, a byproduct of pulp production.

Stora Enso has developed Lignode at a pilot plant in Sunila, Kotka, and at the company’s research centre in Stockholm. Lignin is currently mostly burned for energy at pulp mills.

Lignode can be used as an anode, particularly in sodium-ion batteries, also known as salt batteries. These batteries are attracting interest because they are long-lasting, relatively inexpensive to make and use widely available raw materials.

Demand for sodium-ion batteries is expected to grow, especially for large-scale energy storage that helps balance electricity grids as wind and solar power become a larger part of electricity production. Stora Enso’s director of new businesses, Juuso Konttinen, says the market for bio-based hard carbon could be worth billions of euros over the next decade.

Before moving to industrial production, Stora Enso plans to build a demonstration production line in Ningbo, China, with battery materials company Shanshan Technology. Konttinen says Stora Enso wants the Chinese company’s expertise in manufacturing anode materials to refine the production process and speed up Lignode’s arrival on the market.

Stora Enso says its long-term aim is to build a commercial business based in Europe, potentially producing Lignode alongside its mill complexes. Konttinen says hard carbon is sold by the kilogram, unlike pulp, which is sold by the tonne.