Battery technology ‚Made in Europe‘: hte supports ZSW with innovative battery research units

As part of the collaboration, hte is supporting ZSW with a complete workflow for the production of cathode active materials (CAM) – from precipitation to calcination and post-treatment. The precipitation systems scale down the commercial process to laboratory scale and enable the reproducible synthesis of up to 10 kilograms of solid materials per day. The calcination modules allow simultaneous processing of up to 50 samples through parallelization. The post-treatment unit offers, among other features, the possibility of fully automated sample washing around the clock. All units are equipped with powerful software for precise process control. In addition to successfully commissioning the systems, hte carried out comprehensive training for the ZSW team and provided intensive support in setting up the overall workflow.

At ZSW in Ulm, the development of active materials and lithium-ion batteries has a long-standing tradition. hte’s test systems for establishing a CAM production workflow were acquired as part of the Powder-Up! project. Powder-Up! is a pilot plant at ZSW Ulm for the near-series production of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries in industrially relevant batch sizes – a decisive step towards a sustainable battery value chain in Germany and Europe. The project was made possible thanks to generous funding from the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space.

„The collaboration with hte has enabled us to significantly shorten our development cycles. In a highly competitive market like battery development, this is extremely important – and a key contribution to Germany as a production location,“ says Professor Dr. Markus Hölzle, ZSW Board Member and Head of the Electrochemical Energy Technologies division.

„The collaboration with ZSW shows how our technology and expertise can contribute to advancing battery research in Germany. We are proud to be part of this forward-looking project and to be able to strengthen future technologies for sustainability in a targeted manner.“, comments Denis Hürtgen, Chief Technology Officer at hte.

About ZSW

The Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) is one of the leading institutes for applied research into the major issues relating to the energy transition, including photovoltaics, wind energy, battery technology, fuel cells, electrolysis, e-fuels, circular economy, policy advice, and the use of AI for process and system optimisation. We work in tandem with industry to pave the way to market for new technologies. The ZSW sites in Stuttgart and Ulm employ 350 people to do the work along-side around 100 research and student assistants. The ZSW operates a test site for wind energy and another test site for PV systems. The ZSW is a member of the Innovationsallianz Baden-Württemberg (innBW), a group of 10 applied research institutes.

For more information visit their website: www.zsw-bw.eg