Custom Carbon & Graphite Machining

11 Sep

Advancements in Graphite Recycling: What You Need to Know

A question we often hear from customers: is graphite renewable? While graphite isn't renewable in the traditional sense—it's a carbon material formed over millions of years—the good news is that graphite can be recycled and reused effectively. As demand for graphite batteries and other applications continues to surge, recycling has become important for graphite producers facing supply chain challenges and sustainability pressures. Recycling regulations in most places don’t stipulate that graphite must be recycled, but the graphite market has made recycling not just a priority for the environmentally minded, but also for the bottom lines of businesses from graphite producers...

26 Jun

Graphite in Nuclear Energy: What You Need to Know

When most people think of nuclear power, they picture uranium fuel rods and massive cooling towers. But there's another material quietly performing important work inside many nuclear reactors: graphite. This form of carbon plays several roles in nuclear energy production such as controlling nuclear reactions and providing structural support in the world's most advanced nuclear power stations, like the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station just west of Lorain, OH on Lake Erie. And with President Trump’s recent executive orders on nuclear power, it is likely that this industry will grow in significance as the US looks to increase its energy output...

12 Jun

Guide to Selecting a Custom Graphite Manufacturer: What to Look For

Selecting a Custom Graphite Manufacturer Synthetic graphite offers high purity and consistent quality, making it ideal for applications like lithium-ion batteries, electric arc furnaces, and nuclear reactors. It has excellent thermal conductivity, chemical stability, and can withstand high temperatures without degrading, outperforming natural graphite in many industrial uses. If your company requires custom graphite components, choosing the right custom graphite manufacturer can make the difference between a successful project and costly delays or performance issues. While we at Semco may be a little biased about this topic, we have over 50 years of graphite machining experience to back up our...

16 May

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Turns Coal into Graphite

About 500 miles south of Semco Carbon’s manufacturing facility in Lorain, OH, in the hills of eastern Tennessee, sits Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a facility with a storied past in America's nuclear program. Today, this national laboratory continues its tradition of breakthrough research, but with applications far beyond nuclear power. One particularly promising development at ORNL involves transforming a declining but valuable material—coal—into high-quality graphite essential for renewable energy and clean energy technologies. Coal's Second Act: Clean Energy Technologies For generations, coal powered America's industrial might. As the nation shifts toward cleaner energy sources, coal mining communities face uncertain...

07 May

Synthetic Graphite in Electric Vehicles

Synthetic Graphite in Electric VehiclesThink back ten years. Do you remember seeing electric vehicles on the road? Hybrids, perhaps, and yes, those featured advanced battery technology. But lithium-ion batteries were not powering many cars. Now, think of your commute today. Chances are, you saw several electric vehicles, possibly even e bikes, on your way to work. Electric vehicles have become so common, you probably don’t even notice them. The electric vehicles revolution continues to accelerate in the market today, with automakers worldwide transitioning their fleets from internal combustion engines, with their carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse...