A major fire accident occurred at the Aricell battery factory in South Korea.

The Li/SOCl2 system originally had safety and voltage lag issues.

International Electronics Business News 25th Comprehensive Korean media reports, at 10:31 am local time on the 24th, a serious fire accident occurred at the Aricell lithium battery manufacturing plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. After 22 hours of firefighting, the fire was completely extinguished at around 8:48 am on June 25.

This fire may become the worst chemical plant accident in South Korean history. South Korean police said on the 25th that the death toll from the accident has risen to 23. Among them, several are Chinese citizens.

Public information shows that Aricell is a lithium battery manufacturer under the South Korean SK Group. It was established in 2020 as a joint venture between SK Innovation and SK IE Technology to produce lithium batteries for sensors and radio communication equipment. Aricell focuses on the production of lithium batteries, especially lithium thionyl chloride batteries (Li-SOCl2 batteries), and is a leading company in this field. Aricell's annual production capacity is 5GWh, accounting for about 1.25% of South Korea's total annual battery production capacity.

It is worth noting that the Li/SOCl2 system originally had safety and voltage hysteresis problems, among which safety problems are particularly prone to occur during high discharge rate discharge and over-discharge, and when the battery is discharged at low temperature after high temperature storage, voltage hysteresis is obvious.

Why did the Aricell battery factory catch fire? Preliminary investigations show that the fire was caused by the rapid ignition of lithium batteries. It is reported that more than 35,000 finished lithium batteries are stored in the factory building.

According to the head of the fire department who participated in the rescue of the battery factory fire in Hwaseong City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, after analyzing the on-site surveillance video and other preliminary investigations, when the lithium battery factory where a serious fire broke out that day caught fire, the lithium batteries emitted a lot of thick smoke and burned rapidly. It only took 15 seconds from the emission of white smoke to the intense combustion, and then the smoke filled the entire working space. After the incident, although the on-site employees tried to use fire extinguishers to put out the fire, they failed to suppress the development of the fire.

Lithium reacts violently with water to produce hydrogen, so firefighters cannot directly release water to extinguish the fire, but have to use dry sand. The South Korean fire department said that when the advance team arrived at the scene, the batteries in the factory kept exploding, causing the fire to spread rapidly, increasing the difficulty of extinguishing the fire. At the same time, the fire spread too quickly, which may have caused the workers on the second floor to fail to escape in time.

Lithium reacts violently with water to produce hydrogen, so firefighters cannot directly use water to extinguish the fire, but have to use dry sand. The South Korean fire department said that when the advance team arrived at the scene, the batteries in the factory kept exploding, causing the fire to spread rapidly, increasing the difficulty of fire fighting. At the same time, the fire spread too quickly, which may have caused the workers on the second floor to fail to escape in time.

According to reports, Aricell has more than 50 permanent employees and a total of 11 buildings in the factory. There were 102 staff members at the fire scene at the time, 67 people were working on the third floor, and 15 and 52 people on the first and second floors respectively.

The first fire occurred on the third floor of one of the buildings. There were two exit stairs leading to the outside that were not locked, but many people were knocked down by the flames and toxic smoke before reaching the exit. Moreover, many of the victims were temporary workers who may not be familiar with the architectural structure of the factory building. The smoke of toxic gases is very toxic, and one or two breaths will cause loss of consciousness.

On the morning of June 25th local time, South Korean Prime Minister Han Dezhu presided over a cabinet meeting. At the meeting, Han Dezhu expressed condolences to the victims and their families of the fire accident at the South Korean battery factory on the 24th, and said that the South Korean government will work closely with relevant countries to treat the injured, thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident and do its best to deal with the aftermath.

View more at EASELINK