The Australian Business Review, a section of The Australian newspaper featuring in-depth business coverage and commentary, shared the great news about Alpha HPA’s new breakthrough fire-reduction technology that’s poised to revolutionise lithium-ion battery safety.
Click here for the article in The Australian.
Click here for the article also distributed in The Courier Mail.
Read the full article written by Senior Business Journalist Glen Norris below:
Gladstone-based Alpha HPA has unveiled a breakthrough in the technology to combat potentially-deadly battery fires.
With lithium-ion (li-on) batteries causing a reported 1000 home fires in Australia last year, the producer of high-purity aluminium has announced a way to reduce the threat. Alpha managing director Rimas Kairaitis says the company’s solution builds upon a process developed by world-leading battery anode manufacturer BTR New Materials in the 2010s, using high-purity aluminium nitrate to coat the battery anode with a fine layer of aluminium oxide.
The process has demonstrated a 100 per cent reduction in “thermal runaway events,” ensuring the safety of li-ion batteries. “Until now, commercialisation of this technology has been hindered by the lack of high-purity aluminium nitrate,’’ Kairaitis says.
Kairaitis says news reports of a battery being blamed for a fire that killed two people in Lake Macquarie last week was a tragic reminder of the hidden dangers of the batteries. “At its core, the li-ion battery operates on controlled oxidation reactions.
However, under certain conditions such as trauma or using lower quality materials, these reactions can become rapid and uncontrolled, leading to battery fires,” Kairaitis says.
Alpha has the flexibility to either provide the aluminium nitrate to customers, or apply the coating directly. The company is currently in discussions with 13 anode manufacturers and developers, with the aim of commercialising the technology.
Alpha’s penetration into the battery sector has been assisted by the recent appointment of Annie Liu as a company director. Liu was previously an executive director at Ford, and formerly managed Tesla’s multi-billion-dollar battery supply chain.
ASX-listed Alpha HPA is set to double its workforce to 120 and invest hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two years as it ramps up production of highly pure alumina products for use in computer chips and lithium ion batteries.
Media Contact: Ellie Blumel (+61 (0) 448 122 948 or eblumel@alphahpa.com.au)
Investor Contact: Rob Lord (+61 (0) 400 008 553 or rlord@alphahpa.com.au)
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