Batteries for car giants synthesized in Stara Pazova – Luxembourg’s OCSiAl to double nanotube production in Serbia

As the global automotive industry rapidly shifts toward electric propulsion, the foundation for a second phase of the technological revolution is being laid in the industrial zone of Stara Pazova. With the announced “Sinteza 2” project, the Luxembourg-based company OCSiAl is not only doubling its production of graphene nanotubes, but also opening the door for the first time to state-of-the-art laboratory research that will directly shape standards in the production of batteries for electric vehicles and in aerospace.

It should be recalled that the first facility of OCSiAl, which controls more than 90% of the global graphene nanotube market, was opened in Stara Pazova in October 2024.

Although OCSiAl has research centers in strategic locations around the world, the facility in Stara Pazova is unique on a global scale. Serbia is home to the first and largest industrial plant of this kind on the European continent and serves as the main production center directly supplying the European market with the most advanced additives.

With an initial investment worth EUR 40 million and a production capacity of 60 tons of nanotubes annually, the country became a key point on Europe’s map for this demanding market, and the investor is now preparing to practically double that output.

Under the project announced by eKapija last year, this year’s plans include transforming the existing warehouse on Banovacka Street (plot 4872/3, cadastral municipality Stara Pazova) into the high-tech core of the factory. It is here, under strictly controlled conditions, that the materials of the future are literally being “cooked.” In specialized reactors operating at extreme temperatures exceeding 1,000 degrees Celsius, natural gas is broken down to the molecular level in order to create graphene nanotubes.

With the installation of a second reactor, capacity will rise to around 120 tons annually. Although that figure may sound modest, in the world of nanotechnology it is enough to improve batteries for more than two million electric cars. For drivers, this means longer driving range and drastically shorter charging times, because the nanotubes inside the battery create an invisible “highway” network that enables faster electron movement.

The essence of the “Sinteza 2” expansion is not only in the additional tonnage, but in the “intelligence” being integrated into the facility, making Stara Pazova the place where these demands are transformed into reality.

The entire process has now entered a new phase of implementation. After a request was submitted in March of this year for a decision on the need for an environmental impact assessment — prepared by the environmental engineering company Green and Naturale Enviroment from Belgrade — the Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection informed the public of its decision to proceed with the preparation of a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment Study.

Through this study, all protection measures will be precisely defined, although the existing multi-stage filtration system already guarantees that this intensive nanomaterial “cooking” process remains completely safe for the surrounding environment. With this investment, Stara Pazova is definitively strengthening its status as the European capital of nanotechnology, combining Luxembourg capital and domestic expertise in the development of materials that will define the 21st century.

B. P.

OCSiAl Balkan doo Beograd

Pokrajinski sekretarijat za urbanizam i zaštitu životne sredine Novi Sad

GREEN AND NATURALE ENVIRONMENT

OCSiAl

OCSiAl Stara Pazova

Provincial Secretariat for Urban Planning and Environmental Protection

Inženjerstvo zaštite životne sredine Green and naturale enviroment Beograd

Environmental Protection Engineering Green and Naturale Environment Belgrade

graphene nanotubes

production of graphene nanotubes

new nanotube facility in Stara Pazova

batteries for eVehicles