CarboMat Inc. aims to commercialize a technology that transforms a low-value by-product—petroleum asphaltenes (which make up about 18% of Alberta oil sands bitumen)—into affordable, sustainable, and high-performance carbon-based Battery Anode Materials (BAM). These include synthetic graphite for lithium-ion batteries and hard carbon for sodium-ion batteries. CarboMat’s proprietary technology provides a non-combustible, high-value use of asphaltenes to produce high-quality BAM for the growing battery materials market. It reduces GHG emissions by avoiding combustion, replacing high-GHG carbon anodes, and lowering downstream emissions in battery-powered electric vehicles. CarboMat’s preliminary life-cycle analysis (LCA) suggests that asphaltene-derived BAM production could cut GHG emissions by 35–45% compared to conventional and commercial petroleum/coal-tar-derived BAM technologies.
