Daikin Industries Ltd. (TSE:6367) is building a new business pillar around fluorinated electrolyte additives for lithium ion batteries KD186 , MM165 , WW116 .

The company aims to develop this area into a business with sales of 10 billion yen (US$112.39 million) in fiscal 2015, which would be a 20-fold increase over fiscal 2008.

Daikin manufactures a broad range of fluorochemicals. Its segment for fluorinated gases, which are used as coolants and in the semiconductor manufacturing process, generated sales of roughly 100 billion yen in fiscal 2008.

The fluorinated electrolyte additive is made by dissolving fluorine into a solvent which, when added to the liquid electrolyte of a lithium ion battery, increases the charge capacity of the battery.

Last May Daikin retooled equipment at a plant in Osaka and began production of this fluorinated electrolyte additive. The company now has the capacity to make 200 tons a year, but it plans to spend several hundred million yen to boost capacity to 1,000 tons by 2012.

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