26 September 2024

Nordhausen (HSPN):

In August, a research project was launched by Thuringian partners in the field of battery recycling. The ZirKat project aims to recover raw materials from lithium-ion batteries of the type LFP (lithium iron phosphate) and thus reuse them for the production of new batteries. This type of battery is becoming increasingly important for the energy and mobility transition and is used, for example, in stationary batteries for the intermediate storage of green electricity or in electric vehicles.

Work in the project is initially focussing on the cathode material. As with battery production, specialists from various disciplines are working together to recycle these batteries. Mechanical processes such as shredding or sorting are the task of Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences with its Thuringian Innovation Centre for Recyclable Materials, which is also coordinating the project under the leadership of Prof. Dr Michael Rutz. The company K-UTEC from Sondershausen is responsible for chemical work packages (coordinated by Dr Tobias Stubhan); thermal aspects are being handled by the company IBU-tec from Weimar (coordinated by Dr Karl Wegner). By removing impurities and further conditioning the recycled material, the conditions for the recycling of battery raw materials are created. The high quality requirements for the raw materials used are monitored as part of this project by Analytik Jena GmbH+Co. KG, a company for laboratory analysis equipment and solutions (coordination Dr Marc Diener).

The project idea originates from the industry partners and therefore comes directly from practice. "Let's do something about this in and for Thuringia!" says Mr Marx from the board of K-UTEC, one of the co-initiators. The idea not only gave rise to this project, but also to a consortium called ThüLiBaRec (Thuringian Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling) as an association of companies and institutions active in this field. The cell and battery development company EAS Batteries from Nordhausen has also been a member of this consortium since it was founded and will validate the recycled active material in commercially relevant cell formats. Other companies and institutions have already registered their interest.

The project is funded by the research and development project Thüringen Verbund Dynamik and co-financed by the European Union as part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF programme 2021 - 2027).

Joint project number 1001920 

Poster ZirKat (PDF)