GrafTech International, Ltd., and Antora Energy announced they would enter into a strategic partnership to develop and supply carbon-based material for thermal batteries at GrafTech’s St. Marys, PA facility.
The two companies said they would use the same material produced in St. Marys to use in Antora’s thermal batteries, a move the companies said would strengthen the domestic manufacturing base for American energy technology. The companies said the move will also help lower energy costs and make American factories more competitive.
“St. Marys has been an important part of GrafTech’s manufacturing footprint since we acquired the facility in 2010, and we are proud to partner with Antora to leverage the facility and our nearly 140 years of experience in carbon and synthetic graphite-based solutions,” Timothy Flanagan, president and CEO of GrafTech, said. “This partnership is expected to utilize a significant portion of the bake furnace capacity at St. Marys, creating an important new application for the facility while diversifying our end markets and supporting the growth of the domestic energy storage supply chain. We are particularly pleased that this opportunity builds on the skills and experience of the St. Marys workforce, and we look forward to growing our commercial relationship with Antora.”
GrafTech said it has restarted eight bake furnaces, and is already creating jobs. Both of the companies have hired new workers in St. Marys and are hiring a dozen more across plant operations, machining, maintenance and other functions.
“By partnering with GrafTech to source carbon-based materials from their St. Marys facility, Antora is strengthening our domestic supply chain,” Andrew Ponec, Antora co-founder and CEO, said. “GrafTech is a leading Pennsylvania manufacturer, and we’re excited to work with them to deliver affordable and reliable energy across the country. This is an investment in America’s energy leadership.”
Antora said its thermal batteries store low-cost electricity as heat in blocks of carbon. That heat is then delivered around the clock as either heat or electricity. The factory-built modules are as applicable to a chemical plant as they are a steelmaker or data center, the company said.
The thermal batteries are made by heating lower-purity carbon feedstocks, like petroleum coke and coal tar pitch, in high-temperature furnaces. As the industry scales, the companies said, thermal energy storage has the potential to create new markets for U.S. petroleum and coal byproducts.