Author: kubiweb

Focus on WP7 – Preparation of Market Entry within a Circular value chain Led by NTNU

Presentation of NTNU

WP leader:

The WP is led by Anders Hammer Strømman with support from Lorenzo Usai. Anders is a Professor with the Industrial Ecology Programme at NTNU. He has worked on life cycle assessment of energy and transport technologies and systems for more than 20yr. While he has worked across many sectors and environmental issues, batteries and electric vehicles have been central in his portfolio for around 15 yrs. Lorenzo Usai currently has the lead on Life Cycle Assessment of batteries in the group and is the leading researcher on the Spider project. Both also contributed to the latest report on mitigation from the intergovernmental panel on climate change.

Short interview:

– Why have you chosen to get involved as WP7 leader?
First of all it is a team with very skilled but also very nice people. That is important to us. As for the motivation, from a professional perspective, it is very straight forward. We sincerely believe that for a new battery chemistry to be successful, we need to work on both environmental, cost and recyclability aspects and provide insights from that back into the work on developing the technology. That is, it is not sufficient that the technology works from a technological perspective, it also needs to be sustainable in terms of environmental aspects including recycling and competitive in terms of costs.

-What do you take out from this WP?
Working on a project that is developing a new battery chemistry is always very gratifying and challenging. However, thus far the WP work has been very interesting, and we gained many new insights on the current and future potential impacts on the market and on the environment of new battery technologies. So far, we have learnt that while the newly developed technology may have higher manufacturing costs and impacts, its higher performance and longer cycle life can provide across the whole life cycle better economic and environmental performance compared to the current state-of-the-art.

– What are your expectations from the SPIDER project?
From the SPIDER project we expect to get a better understanding of the potential impacts and costs of the battery cells that have been developed in the past three years by our project partners. To do so, we are currently working on a joint model that is able to increase the robustness and the insights we can get from environmental and cost assessments. Furthermore, we aim at increasing our knowledge on potential recycling routes and on the market solutions, such as 2nd life applications, for novel battery chemistries.

NTNU’s Lab

NTNU Industrial Ecology is an interdisciplinary research programme specialized in environmental sustainability analysis with a mission is to provide high quality research and education in the field of industrial ecology for supporting the global community in realizing the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Industrial Ecology Programme is a well-established interdisciplinary research group in the field of environmental sustainability analysis, with publications featured in top-ranked journals, direct contributions to assessment reports from the IPCC and the International Resource Panel. IndEcol is involved in European and national research projects, and is currently leading or participating in several large-scale projects and initiatives, including ERC Grants, National Centers for Research-based Innovation and for Environment-friendly Energy Research. The programme was initiated in 1994 and covers several research disciplines and a comprehensive educational curriculum for master and PhD students. We established the world’s first PhD programme in Industrial Ecology in 2003, and set up the international Master of Science in Industrial Ecology the following year. Currently we also hosts the European editorial office of the Journal of Industrial Ecology. Currently we have 7 full professors and a handful of adjunct professors. The total number of scientific staff is around 60.

Any other info you would like to share

Currently, the NTNU team besides Anders and Lorenzo is made by 2 more PhD students, one PostDoc and one Research Assistant. Sina Orangi and Nelson Manjong are the PhD students working on the modelling of a process-based battery production model and on the criticality and impacts of key battery raw materials value chains, respectively. Daniel Clos is a PostDoc fellow, with a PhD in material sciences, currently working on the modelling of battery production systems. Iman Dorri just is a research assistant with his expertise on process-based modelling of recycling technologies applied to Life Cycle Assessment. The team will work jointly to develop a flexible python-based life cycle assessment model that will allow the users to specify the cells to be analyzed (e.g. chemistry and format), parameterize key levers along the value chains of key raw materials, and calculate the manufacturing impacts based on a process-based manufacturing model.

Focus on WP5 – Cell Manufacturing Led by CIDETEC

Presentation of CIDETEC

CIDETEC is an organization for applied research that integrates three international reference institutes in the fields of Energy Storage, Surface Engineering and Nanomedicine. In the Energy Storage field, our activity covers the entire value chain from material chemistry to final application. We design and develop cells, modules and battery packs tailored to our customers’ needs, with a clear commitment towards technology transfer to industry. CIDETEC Energy storage also participates in different EU granted projects and is a founding member of Battery 2030+ and ETIP Batteries Europe, chairing WG4 – Cell Design and Manufacturing, amongst other initiatives.

WP leader: Susan Sananes Israel

Main contact: ssananes@cidetec.es

Dr. Susan Sananes Israel is a researcher in material chemistry and project manager at CIDETEC Energy Storage, in the Li-ion group. She is leading different projects with private and European partners. She is graduated from the University of Montpellier with a Masters Degree in Material Chemistry for Energy and Sustainability. Her PhD in Material Chemistry, focused on the ion confinement in porous media and fonctionnalisation by Supercritical CO2 was obtained in 2018. She is author and co-author of several publications focused on Li-ion batteries and porous media.

Short interview:

– Why have you chosen to get involved as WP5 leader?
CIDETEC Energy storage has a strong know-how on material processing, electrode formulation and prototype cell assembly. In WP5, the main target is to manufacture cells with all the components (electrodes, electrolyte) developed in WP3 and WP4. We start from the material level, preparing slurries at laboratory scale. Once the formulation is optimised, the electrode slurry is coated at pilot line level and prototype pouch cells can be assembled with all the different chemistries used in the project. The use of novel materials such as Si composites and high Ni NMC materials is very interesting for CIDETEC, to enhance our experience on the processing of novel materials for high energy density applications.

– What do you take out from this WP?
We work in collaboration with industrial centers (VARTA Innovation) and research institutes (Technical University of Munich) in order to find the best cell design, and to manufacture pouch cells with advanced Li-ion chemistry. The development of a prelithiation protocol applicable to pouch cells is also very innovative as, for the moment, this is something that has not been used in commercial cells and results that have been obtained for the moment are very promising. Moreover, this WP also allowed to work on aqueous-based formulations using high-nickel NMC, which can help to build more sustainable batteries in the future.

– What are your expectations from the SPIDER project?
Participating in SPIDER project allow to increase the know-how and capabilities of CIDETEC regarding human ressources, towards the development of new electrodes formulations and protocols with high Ni- NMC materials. SPIDER also enhances the collaboration between all the partners of the consortium, with the common goal to develop a recyclable high energy density cell with a long cycle life. Despite the COVID situation, the coordination of the project with different periodic meetings allowed to have an overview of the recent progresses of the project in all the WP, so as to facilitate the communitacion between the different WP. Moreover, we hosted the 8th SPIDER General assembly in San Sebastián, which gave us the possibility to meet physically and exchange ideas for publications and new collaborations.
Currently, the project is almost finished and we have a very positive impact and exploitable results from SPIDER project, with 1 accepted article (and some others in preparation) so as the participation to 3 conferences.

CIDETEC’s Lab

Name and short description, persons involved etc.

Cidetec energy storage unit is divided into two different units. On one hand, the Unit for Storage Systems, working on a cell to pack level with the design and modelling of future battery packs. On the other hand, the Unit of Materials for Energy that works in different energy storage technologies (Li-ion, Solid State Batteries, Li-sulfur, Ca-ion, fuel cells) from the material scale to the high scale prototype level. In total, there are more than 100 persons working on the research and development of the future batteries. The Li-ion group counts with more than 20 persons, technicians and researchers, that work in collaboration in different private and public-founded projects. We enjoy taking part in SPIDR project and having interactions with the consortium.

Any other info you would like to share

Feel free to visit Cidetec Energy Storage ’s website:
https://energystorage.cidetec.es/en/home

General Assembly meeting in San Sebastian (Spain)

The eighth and last general assembly was held at CIDETEC on June, 21 and 22 2022 in San Sebastian. It was the fisrt meeting in face-to-face since the Covid-19 pandemic.

First day, all WP leaders presented the Work Package progresses made for last 6 months.

Second day, all partners present on site visited the CIDETEC facilities. Then we organised Open group discussions on Dissemination and Communication activities and open points in order to prepare the last deliverables, the final technical report and the final review meeting.

The next and last important event for the SPIDER consortium will be the Final Review Meeting, scheduled for September,13th 2022.

Online SPIDER WORKSHOP

The SPIDER workshop will be held online on April 14th , 2022 (9AM – 1PM). Several partners of SPIDER project will present their activity with a focus on batteries. Free registration are possible here.

The program is:

9:00-9:05

Welcome

9:05- 9:20

“Spider Project” – Cedric Haon (CEA)

9:25-9:55

 “Influence of the ambient storage on NMC811-based Li-ion cathode performance and overview of CIDETEC pilot line facilities” – Susana Sananes (CIDETEC)

10:00-10:30

 “How  to limit cobalt in cathode materials” – David Peralta (CEA)

10:35-11:05

“Current status and future prospects of the LCAs of Li-ion batteries” – Lorenzo Usai (NTNU)

11:10-11:40

 “Fundamentals of physics-based modelling and its application to batteries” – Odile Capron (VITO)

11:45-12:15

 Stellantis plan for vehicle electrification – Daniele Pullini (CRF)

12:45-13:00

Final  Discussion & Conclusions

Focus on WP2 – Prelithiation process development led by TUM

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of the leading universities in Germany and Europe (Shanghai ranking: 54), has approximately 42.700 students, wherein more than one third are female and about 30% are foreign students.

The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is one of the leading universities in Germany and Europe (Shanghai ranking: 54), has approximately 42.700 students, wherein more than one third are female and about 30% are foreign students.

Within the SPIDER project the Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management (iwb), which is part of the TUM, is participating. For more than 10 years, the research institute now works on lithium-ion battery topics, mainly related to cell manufacturing, cell design and manufacturing processes. The iwb is one of the largest research institutions of production technology in Germany, and encompasses two chairs at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Garching near Munich. Both chairs, the Chair for Industrial Management and Assembly Technologies, as well as the Chair for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Technology, define the research content and the thematic focuses of the iwb. These lie in the areas of additive manufacturing, battery production, machine tools, assembly technologies and robotics, laser technology, sustainable production as well as in the field of production management and logistics.

Source: Andreas Heddergott / iwb

iwb at TUM
The iwb of the Technical University of Munich contributes to the SPIDER project with its expertise on battery research and production technologies. The complete representation of the battery production process chain from powdered active material to the finalized battery cell at one institute, in the form of the iwb pilot line, is unique in Germany.
Characteristics of the iwb pilot line are industry-oriented plant technology, flexible processes, and high safety standards. Due to the partially automated, adaptive plant technology, the iwb can produce coin, pouch, and hard case cells with capacities from a few mAh to over 30 Ah on one line. 

Source: Andreas Heddergott / iwb

The research fields of electrode design and manufacturing as well as cell production and quality combine the competencies of production research on battery cells at the iwb. The main focus of the research of many years is the consideration of process chains, the improvement of process capability, the use of new components and equipment as well as the processing of innovative materials. The characterization of intermediate and end products based on defined quality features and data mining approaches ensures a high and constant quality of the final product and processes. In addition to conventional lithium-ion cells, the iwb also deals with solid-state batteries and other promising technologies.

Main contact: Benedikt Stumper, TUM
Benedikt Stumper graduated with a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering and Management with a focus on Materials Engineering as well as Management and Sustainability in 2018. After his studies, he joined the Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management as a research associate in 2018. His main research activity focuses on the topic of prelithiation, where he works on direct contact prelithiation (mechanical prelithiation). In this context, he investigates the impact of prelithiation on cell performance and its implementation in the process chain of lithium-ion battery production. Besides he is active in the field of lithium-ion battery production, where he focuses on the processes of coating and calendering.

Why have you chosen to get involved as WP2 leader?
The work of WP2 includes the development and investigation of a suitable prelithiation process for lithium-ion batteries. For this purpose, different approaches are available, which imply different types of processes. The Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management, as one of the largest and leading institutes of production engineering in Germany, has extensive expertise in the field of process development and optimization. The iwb wants to bring this expertise into the project as a WP leader in order to enable a process-technical implementation of a suitable prelithiation method on laboratory and pilot scale and thus lay the basis for an industrial implementation.

What do you take out from this WP?
From this WP, the iwb takes knowledge and experience in the field of prelithiation. These provide the basis for further research and related projects. Through this, a new understanding of the process is also being built up at the iwb, about a process that is still relatively young and may be of great relevance in the future. Personally, these findings help me in my doctoral project and for my research. The prelithiation research provides deep insights into cell chemistry and the processes within a lithium-ion battery, which might have been less in focus before. Besides, working in an international research environment offers many opportunities to gain experience in battery research and international contacts. Working in such a large and multidisciplinary team is exciting and very educating. Thus, the work in the work package does not only result in technical knowledge in the field of new processes within the production of lithium-ion batteries, but also the management of international projects or working groups.

What are your expectations from the SPIDER project?
Mainly the above-described insight into new processes within lithium-ion battery production and a deeper understanding of the processes in a LIB. Besides, I hope that the research and the results of the SPIDER project will contribute to advancing battery technology and making LIB and its production more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. Not only improved cell performance but also more cost-efficient, safer, and environmentally friendly processes and products are necessary for improved market penetration of electric vehicles. SPIDER will make its contribution to this at a European level and possibly beyond.

Data Management Plan

This public deliverable describes the project’s policy concerning any shared data. It will serve to ensure that any shared data is findable, accessible, interoperable and re-usable.    You may access it here

General Assembly meeting in Münster (Germany)

The second general assembly was held at FZJ (Forschungzentrum Jülich GmbH) on June, 12 and 13 2019 in Münster. On this occasion, the Spider consortium met the EC reviewer for the first time.

General Assembly meeting in Münster (Germany)

The second general assembly was held at FZJ (Forschungzentrum Jülich GmbH) on June, 12 and 13 2019 in Münster. On this occasion, the Spider consortium met the EC reviewer for the first time.

First day, all WP leaders presented the Work Package progresses made for last 6 months.

Second day, plenary WPs presentations were followed by workshops dedicated to Prelithiation, Electrodes preparation, Definition/distribution of work for the characterization, modelling and tests (electrical and abusive) and Timeline for data collection required for LCA and LCC.

All participants left with fresh ideas and actions to be adapted and realized.

Several audioconferences will be organized to continue the technical discussion until the next consortium meeting in September 2019 by audioconference. 

Kick-off meeting of H2020 project SPIDER in Grenoble (France).

The kick-off meeting (KOM) was held on 12 – 13 February, 2019 at CEA Liten in Grenoble. The meeting was attended by the 14 partners including leading universities and research institutes in the battery field and key companies central to the emerging European industrial value chain for EV batteries.

Kick-off meeting of H2020 project SPIDER in Grenoble (France)

The  kick-off meeting (KOM) was held on 12 – 13 February, 2019 at CEA Liten in Grenoble. The meeting was attended by the 14 partners including leading universities and research institutes in the battery field and key companies central to the emerging European industrial value chain for EV batteries.

SPIDER, with project number 814389, is funded under the  topic LC-NMBP-30-2018 – “Materials for future highly performant electrified vehicle batteries” of European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

During the meeting all issues related to the 8 complementary Workpackages of the SPIDER project were presented and discussed.

The participants mostly focused on the technologies to be used, specifications of materials and methods, requirements of end users for the implementation of the project results.

The partners were engaged in technical discussions during the two days and were committed in the project tasks, as foreseen in the Grant Agreement.

Innovation European battery value chain