hte has successfully supplied several units for the production of cathode active materials to the Centre for Solar Energy and H₂ Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and put them into operation. The collaboration strengthens research in the field of battery materials and underlines hte’s expertise in the development of workflows under industry-relevant conditions.

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,” said 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,” commented Denis Hürtgen, Chief Technology Officer at hte.