Natron Energy, the world’s leading developer and supplier of high-power, long-life and low-cost Sodium-ion batteries using Prussian blue chemistry, and Lonza Specialty Ingredients (LSI; Basel, Switzerland) announced their agreement for LSI to supply high volumes of Prussian blue pigment materials for Natron’s energy storage products.
LSI will augment its existing facilities at its Visp, Switzerland, factory to produce the Prussian blue materials. From Q4 2022, Natron will use the materials produced at the LSI Visp facility to manufacture battery electrodes at a facility planned for construction in Valais, Switzerland, as part of a previously announced partnership with the Valais government. The Swiss-manufactured electrode materials will then be transported to the US to be included in Natron’s products.
As the core component of Natron’s batteries, LSI’s production of Prussian blue materials will fuel up to 600 MW of annual production of battery systems—enough to power five to ten major data center facilities. Due to their reliability and long cycle life, Natron’s battery systems are particularly attractive to customers in data center, telecom and 5G, forklift and other industrial power markets, and available through such partners as ABB, CE+T and MC Energy.
The agreement with LSI will help Natron meet growing global demand for its BlueTray 4000 Rack-Mounted Battery Pack, a commercially available product and the first-ever Sodium-ion battery to achieve a 1973 certification from UL, the definitive third-party evaluation of battery product safety.
Colin Wessels, CEO, Natron Energy, said: “Natron Energy’s products are changing the way the world’s biggest businesses use power. Our high-powered, eco-friendly, and fire-safe batteries are commercially available and being shipped to customers in the data center and logistics markets today. As we expand production to meet growing customer demand, Natron is scaling our supply chain with the addition of world-class partners like Lonza Specialty Ingredients. Only four battery chemistries have achieved commercial scale success in the last 100 years, and our agreement with LSI will allow Natron’s Sodium-ion solution to be the fifth.”
Lukas von Hippel, Vice President, Global Head CDMO, Lonza Specialty Ingredients, said: “We are proud to be the partner of choice for Natron Energy to develop and manufacture the electrodes for their batteries. Our technological skills, sound understanding of the technical tasks, clear commitment to quality and the close cooperation with our partners have been the foundation of rapid and successful development from lab to life. Our capabilities to design and build plants make our Visp facility a natural one-stop-shop.”