According to the front page of China Petrochemical News on August 17, 2026 and the official WeChat account of Sinopec Shanghai Research Institute of Petrochemical Technology (SSRIPT, 'Shanghai Institute'), the institute has this year been implementing the deployment of Sinopec Group and accelerating its integrated 'R&D-production-sales' layout for sodium-ion batteries, achieving breakthroughs in electrolyte, cells and system integration. The Shanghai Institute's sodium-ion R&D team began focusing on sodium-ion energy storage in 2021, building full-chain capabilities from core materials to battery systems. The achievement of batch electrolyte supply marks the entry of this technology, previously confined to papers and patents, into industrial application.
Details of the three breakthroughs: (1) Electrolyte batch supply — multiple new grades of functional electrolyte have been developed, with a full-process quality-control system covering raw-material purity analysis, moisture-content control and trace-impurity detection, and customized product solutions for different customers. A cooperating cell maker reported: 'Using the first 2-ton batch of electrolyte, our cell cycle life is 10% higher than the competitive average,' and the technical service team also helped the customer resolve electrode wetting issues.
(2) Cell certification — after redesigning formulations and processes for sodium-ion material characteristics, the self-developed sodium-ion prismatic cells passed all CNAS certification tests, with good consistency and cycling performance, laying a foundation for market promotion. (3) System demonstration — a 100 kW-scale sodium-ion PV-storage-charging integrated system built last year at an industrial park, integrating sodium storage units, PV modules and fast-charging facilities, has been operating stably for over half a year, delivering stable output in high-temperature weather and completing hundreds of charge-discharge cycles.
The report does not disclose the specific scale of batch electrolyte supply, customer names, contract values, or whether the prismatic cells have entered mass production or field deployment; the '10% higher cycle life' claim is feedback from a single customer and has not been independently verified; and the 100 kW-scale system is demonstrative, so its commercial scale cannot be inferred. Continued tracking is recommended of the institute's electrolyte/cell sales scale, customer onboarding, and Sinopec's broader sodium-ion industry-chain moves.