The Administrative Committee of Changshu High-tech Zone approved the environmental impact assessment for Jiangsu Zhengli New Energy’s intelligent flexible manufacturing project of new sodium-ion batteries on September 12. With a total investment of 10 billion yuan, the project plans an annual output of 50GWh sodium-ion batteries with supporting electrode production lines. As one of the large-scale capacity expansion moves in the sodium battery sector recently, it also means the market demand for battery slurry processing equipment such as lithium battery degassing machines is expanding alongside the industrialization of sodium-ion batteries.

In terms of industrial progress, sodium-ion battery capacity expansion is not an isolated case. Previously, Zhongke Hina signed a 10GWh long-term supply agreement with a South Korean enterprise. CATL, Inovance and other companies are also on the candidate list for sodium-ion battery energy storage project bids. Intensive layout by leading battery and material manufacturers indicates that sodium-ion batteries have moved from demonstration applications to large-scale supply in energy storage, two-wheelers and some passenger vehicle scenarios. The 50GWh production line of Zhengli New Energy also includes positive and negative electrode capacity, which shows enterprises tend to adopt integrated construction, bringing more concentrated supporting equipment demand for slurry preparation.

Sodium-ion and lithium batteries face similar process challenges in slurry preparation. The positive and negative electrode slurries feature high solid content and high viscosity. Active materials, conductive agents and binders require sufficient dispersion. Residual air bubbles in the slurry, if carried into the coating process, will form defects such as pinholes and exposed foil on the electrode surface, undermining cell consistency and cycle performance. Therefore, degassing before coating is a key process for quality control in battery production lines. The lithium battery degassing machine from Sinos combines planetary revolution and rotation with vacuum conditions. Materials inside the container receive centrifugal force from revolution and shear force from rotation simultaneously, while vacuum negative pressure removes air bubbles. It is suitable for mixing and degassing of high-viscosity materials such as battery slurry, covering multiple stages from laboratory R&D to pilot production, helping battery manufacturers stably control batch consistency of slurry.

The pace of battery capacity expansion directly affects the order structure of upstream equipment suppliers. A 50GWh-level production line generally takes more than one year from EIA approval to equipment entry, commissioning and ramp-up, and demand for slurry processing equipment will be gradually released as the production line construction progresses. For equipment manufacturers, the ability to complete equipment verification during the process finalization stage of battery enterprises often determines opportunities for subsequent bulk supply.

The industrialization of sodium-ion batteries is accelerating. As a front-end process affecting cell quality, battery slurry degassing will see continuous growth in equipment demand with capacity rollout. Manufacturers of lithium battery degassing machines with stable degassing performance are expected to obtain more supporting opportunities in the large-scale capacity expansion cycle of sodium-ion batteries.