Saint Jean Carbon Prepares for the Future Air Batteries

OAKVILLE, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 26, 2015) - Saint Jean Carbon Inc. ("Saint Jean" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SJL), a carbon sciences company engaged in the development of natural graphite properties and related carbon products, is pleased to announce they have entered into an nonbinding and non-arm's length agreement to acquire the past producing Glen Almond quartz mine in Quebec. Saint Jean feels it is strategic and falls in line with their graphite lithium-ion battery engineering work as a possible secondary material as silica may have increased demands with the new (silica based) air batteries.

Air batteries were originally proposed in the 1970s as a possible power source for battery electric vehicles. Li-air (lithium-air) batteries recaptured scientific interest in the late 2000s due to advances in materials technology and an increasing demand for renewable energy sources. The major appeal of the Li-air battery is the extremely high specific energy; a measure of the amount of energy a battery can store for a given weight. A lithium-air battery has an energy density (per kilogram) comparable to gasoline. Li-air batteries gain this advantage in specific energy since they use oxygen from the air instead of storing an oxidizer internally.

Paul Ogilvie, CEO, commented: "We feel the acquisition gives us an opportunity to start working on air battery materials, studying the qualities that could be needed, test production theories and generally get a better understanding of the performance requirements of the material. This will help us significantly as the technology grows out in the coming years".

A major driver in lithium-air battery development is the automotive sector. The energy density of gasoline is approximately 13 kW·h/kg, which corresponds to 1.7 kW·h/kg of energy provided to the wheels after losses. The theoretical energy density of the lithium-air battery is 12 kW·h/kg (43.2 MJ/kg) excluding the oxygen mass. It has been theorized that the same 1.7 kW·h/kg could reach the wheels using Li-air after losses from over-potentials, other cell components and battery pack auxiliaries, given the much higher efficiency of electric motors (Imanishi and Yamamoto, 2014). This means; it may be possible for a Li-air battery to be as cost effective as gasoline, as the cost for electricity to charge the battery would be less.