Forging the Future With ONEJOON

BY Daniel De Bomford

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Demand is skyrocketing for batteries to serve transport and energy infrastructure, while organizations push to meet sustainability goals and reduce their carbon footprint. While the technology has made leaps in the last decade, producing the competent parts required for the energy transformation is still a resource intensive process and can undercut an organization's sustainability goals. South Korean innovator ONEJOON Co., Ltd., is leading innovation in manufacturing high-performance kilns and integrated thermal solutions that enable the heat treatment of critical materials such as cathodes and anodes for lithium-ion batteries. This technology is vital for all forms of modern technology, from green energy infrastructure to electric cars, hydrogen fuels cells and aircraft. Through its expertise in furnace technology and powder-handling systems, it provides forward-thinking solutions that address the key challenges facing the industry: sustainability and scalability.

Sung Je Lee

Sung Je Lee, CEO, ONEJOON Co., Ltd. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd. Sung Je Lee, CEO, ONEJOON Co., Ltd. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

Sung Je Lee, the CEO and founder of ONEJOON, has driven the company's rapid growth and innovation in thermal solutions by fostering a culture of adaptability and customer-centric engineering. This approach has led to international successes with the establishment of a U.S. branch and the 2020 acquisition of leading German ultra-high temperature furnaces provider, Eisenmann Thermal Solutions. He explains, "Our approach has always been different. We thrive on finding solutions, even for tricky or complex customer requests, which has driven us to be innovative." As material components prices continue to fall as processes become more efficient, it's this innovation that is critical to maintaining their competitive edge. Industry bodies see this trend continuing in the near future as manufacturers benefit from investments into energy transformation and economies of scale.

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Carbonization furnace

Carbonization furnace. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

Carbonization furnace

Carbonization furnace. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

Pilot Sintering furnace

Pilot Sintering furnace. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

ONEJOON is focusing on integrating thermal solutions and powder handling systems to provide comprehensive, scalable production processes across a range of materials and components. It optimizes kiln performance, alongside powder handling to eliminate bottlenecks and enable efficient, high-throughput production. In practice, this can mean tailoring the process to the specific material properties, increasing efficiency, reducing waste and minimizing energy consumption. For more than 15 years, ONEJOON has provided more than 200 roller hearth kilns (RHK) to top-tier cathode active material (CAM) producers globally, continuously increasing the kiln capacity and contributing to the battery material price reduction. However, while RHKs are the dominant kiln, Lee anticipates that new demands from next generation materials will require new solutions. "What we need is a new type of kiln technology that can better meet the evolving requirements of the battery industry."

Our approach has always been different—we thrive on finding solutions for complex customer requests.

Sung Je Lee, CEO, ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

Looking to the future, ONEJOON is investing in scalable technologies for next-generation materials. Lee believes that solid state batteries, which are safer and less of a fire hazard, are highly promising and potentially transformative for the industry, which is why ONEJOON has supported them from the beginning. Beyond investment, ONEJOON supplies furnaces to companies for the production of synthetic carbons, graphites and composite materials. It both supports the development of new anode material and reduces the carbon footprint of the otherwise resource intensive process. By leveraging its test center in Germany, ONEJOON is capable of catering specific thermal processes on a small scale and offer material analyses. This would represent a huge opportunity for a solution provider such as ONEJOON, to step in from the very beginning of the transformation. "Whenever a new material requires heat treatment, these developers need support from suppliers who can help scale production from the lab or pilot scale to mass production," Lee says.

Interview of Martin Creutziger, Head of Test Center & New Business. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

Collaboration is essential for industries to meet environmental, and performance demands in a world where innovation conservatism is unable to meet the rapid pace of technological advancement and sustainability requirements. ONEJOON is positioning itself as the ideal partner for organizations looking for innovation and scalability. As Lee says, "At ONEJOON, we are prepared to help our customers meet new requirements—not just in terms of cost but also by optimizing for environmental efficiency."

Interview of Florian Schoen, Battery Business Unit engineer leader. Credit: Courtesy of ONEJOON Co., Ltd.

For more details, explore the website at: https://www.onejoon.de/en/

All interviews were conducted by The Worldfolio and can be found at www.theworldfolio.com.

This article has been paid for by a third party. The views and opinions expressed are not those of Newsweek and are not an endorsement of the products, services or persons mentioned.