Multi-field Applications of Rotary Tube Furnaces in New Energy Material Development

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Multi-field Applications of Rotary Tube Furnaces in New Energy Material Development

1. Introduction

Driven by global "dual carbon" goals, the new energy industry (e.g., new energy vehicles, energy storage, photovoltaic power plants) has entered a high-growth stage. The performance of new energy materials directly determines the core competitiveness of end products—for instance, the energy density of lithium batteries affects the range of electric vehicles, and the purity of photovoltaic materials determines power generation efficiency. As a classic thermal equipment, the rotary tube furnace drives the inclined furnace tube to rotate via a motor, enabling materials to continuously tumble and disperse in the high-temperature furnace chamber. It not only solves the pain points of "local overheating" and "uneven reaction" in traditional static furnaces but also realizes continuous production. Thus, it has become a core equipment for preparing key materials such as lithium battery cathodes/anodes, hydrogen storage materials for hydrogen energy, and photovoltaic polysilicon, building a key bridge for new energy materials from laboratory research to industrial mass production.

2. Core Advantages

The technical advantages of rotary tube furnaces are closely tied to their structural design, accurately matching the preparation needs of new energy materials:

Continuous Production Capacity: The furnace tube is inclined at a specific angle (usually 3°-5°) with an adjustable rotation speed of 5-30 r/min. Materials are automatically conveyed from the feed end to the discharge end without interruption. The daily output of a single production line can reach the ton level. Compared with the cyclic mode of "charging-heating-reaction-discharging" of batch furnaces, the efficiency is improved by more than 30%, perfectly adapting to the large-scale mass production needs of the new energy industry;

High Temperature Uniformity: The furnace body adopts a 3-5 segment independent heating zone design, with each segment's temperature control accuracy reaching ±1℃. At the same time, the rotation of the furnace tube drives the materials to tumble continuously, completely eliminating the temperature gradient problem of "overheating of bottom materials and unreacted top materials". It ensures that the performance deviation of materials within a batch is less than 5%, guaranteeing product consistency;

Strong Process Adaptability: The furnace tube material can be quartz, corundum, stainless steel, etc. (adapting to different temperatures and atmospheres). The atmosphere system supports precise control of inert gases (N₂, Ar), reducing gases (H₂), and oxidizing gases (O₂). It can flexibly meet various processes such as sintering (e.g., cathode materials), reduction (e.g., metal hydrogen storage materials), calcination (e.g., molecular sieves), and graphitization (e.g., anode materials) without frequent equipment replacement.

3. Multi-field Applications

3.1 Lithium Battery Materials

Lithium batteries are the mainstream technology in the current new energy vehicle and energy storage fields, and rotary tube furnaces run through the key links of cathode and anode material preparation:

Cathode Materials: The synthesis of ternary cathode materials (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) requires the process of "mixing-high temperature sintering-cooling". Taking NCM811 as an example, after mixing the precursor (nickel-cobalt-manganese hydroxide) with lithium hydroxide in proportion, it needs to be sintered at 750-850℃ in an oxygen atmosphere for 8-12 hours. The rotary tube furnace ensures uniform insertion of lithium into the crystal lattice through stable temperature control and material tumbling, avoiding the formation of impurities such as Li₂CO₃, and increasing the material's specific capacity to more than 200 mAh/g; LFP needs to be sintered at 600-700℃ in an inert atmosphere, and the continuous conveying capacity of the furnace tube can achieve a daily output of 10 tons, supporting the large-scale production of power battery factories;

Anode Materials: Artificial graphite anodes need to undergo high-temperature graphitization at 2000-2300℃ to improve the regularity of interlayer spacing and conductivity. The rotary tube furnace uses graphite heating elements with a high vacuum or inert atmosphere to prevent graphite oxidation, and the resistivity of the treated material drops to below 10 μΩ·m; for silicon-based anodes (prone to expansion and poor cycle performance), carbon coating is required at 600-800℃ in an inert atmosphere. The rotation of the furnace tube ensures that the coating uniformly covers the surface of silicon particles, increasing the cycle life to more than 1000 times.

3.2 Hydrogen Energy Materials

In the hydrogen energy "production-storage-transportation-utilization" chain, the performance of hydrogen storage and purification materials is crucial, and rotary tube furnaces provide core preparation technologies:

Hydrogen Storage Materials: Mg-based composite hydrogen storage materials (high hydrogen storage capacity but poor kinetics) need to be compounded with metal powders such as Ni and Co and sintered at 350-450℃ in an inert atmosphere. The rotary tube furnace fully mixes Mg powder and metal powder to form alloy phases such as Mg₂Ni, improving hydrogen absorption kinetics by more than 5 times; LaNi₅-based hydrogen storage materials need to be smelted at 1000-1100℃ and then annealed at 800℃. The rotation of the furnace tube ensures uniform alloy composition, avoiding segregation, and stabilizing the material's hydrogen absorption and desorption plateau pressure at 0.1-0.3 MPa;

Purification Materials: Molecular sieves (e.g., 13X type) for pressure swing adsorption (PSA) need to be calcined at 550-600℃ to remove templates and crystal water, forming a porous structure with a pore size of 0.8-1.0 nm. The rotary tube furnace prevents the collapse of the molecular sieve structure by precisely controlling the heating rate (5-10℃/min), and the CO₂ adsorption capacity reaches more than 20 mg/g; metal-organic framework (MOFs) materials need to be activated at 120-200℃ under vacuum conditions. The rotation of the furnace tube ensures complete activation, reducing the adsorption capacity of H₂O in H₂ to below 0.1 ppm.

3.3 Photovoltaic Materials

The conversion efficiency of photovoltaic cells depends on material purity and crystal quality, and rotary tube furnaces play a key role in the preparation of polysilicon and thin film materials:

Polysilicon Purification: Industrial-grade polysilicon (purity 99.9%) needs to undergo "chlorination process-high temperature impurity removal" to be upgraded to photovoltaic grade (99.9999%). The rotary tube furnace introduces Cl₂ at 1100-1200℃, converting metal impurities such as Fe and Al into volatile chlorides (e.g., FeCl₃, AlCl₃), which are discharged with the gas flow, increasing the purity to more than 6N; at the same time, polysilicon needs to be dried to remove water at 300-400℃ before ingot casting. The rotation of the furnace tube ensures that the water content is below 50 ppm, avoiding bubbles in the ingot;

Thin Film Materials: Cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film photovoltaic cells need to be annealed at 400-450℃ to form a CdTe/CdS heterojunction. The rotary tube furnace uses a nitrogen atmosphere for protection to prevent film oxidation, increasing the conversion efficiency to more than 18%; perovskite films need to be annealed at 100-150℃ for 30-60 minutes. The rotation of the furnace tube eliminates film stress, avoiding cracking, and extending the carrier lifetime to more than 1 μs, improving battery stability.

4. How to contact us?

Zhengzhou Protech Technology Co.,LTD is a professional manufacturer specializing in tube furnaces, muffle furnaces, atmosphere furnaces, and vacuum furnaces. We are committed to providing targeted solutions to meet your diverse heating equipment needs.

For customized heating solutions tailored to your specific requirements, feel free to get in touch with us:
WhatsApp: +86 17719806024
Email: info@lab-furnace.com

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Multi-field Applications of Rotary Tube Furnaces in New Energy Material Development

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