The German Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production (FFB) and Swiss-based Bühler Group are expanding their collaboration. Since 2021, Fraunhofer FFB has been utilizing Bühler’s technology for the continuous mixing of battery slurry. Fraunhofer will use Bühler’s 30-millimeter extruder at their new research and development site in Münster, Germany. Here, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is constructing a test facility, FFB PreFab, spanning over 6,000 square meters. Concurrently, an industrial plant, FFB Fab, is being built where Bühler’s 93-millimeter extruder will facilitate throughput of approximately 1,200 liters of battery slurry per hour.
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is working towards more battery plants in Europe. This includes a new test facility and a gigafactory at its research and development site in Münster, Germany. “The Fraunhofer FFB has a clear goal. We research and develop solutions for scaling production technology for lithium-ion batteries. Our customers are German automakers who want to get into battery production to make themselves less dependent on international suppliers and plant manufacturers in the battery industry,” says Markus Eckstein, the Fraunhofer FFB Research Associate.
The FFB PreFab, located ten kilometers south of the current pilot plant (FFB Workspace), is already under construction and is expected to be completed in 2024. The existing Bühler 30-millimeter extruder installation will be relocated to the FFB PreFab. “Thanks to its modular design, a very large number of process parameters can be run down within a very short time and thus the mixing process can be efficiently optimized,” explains Philipp Stoessel, Team Manager Process Technology Grinding & Dispersing at Bühler.
Bühler’s continuous mixing process is unique in the industry. It allows raw material dosing, premixing, kneading, fine dispersing, and degassing in a single device. “Thanks to Bühler’s continuous mixing technology, we can determine accurate parameters for scaling and transfer them to the gigafactory scale. Bühler’s battery experts keep challenging us to look at things in a new way, and we are in active exchange when it comes to new technologies and best practices. For example, we are fascinated by QuaLiB, an in-house development at Bühler, which allows the quality of the electrode slurry to be analyzed in real time and ensures traceability of the process,” explains Eckstein.
Bühler will also construct a 93-millimeter extruder and sophisticated systems for handling, storing, and metering the raw materials, and for slurry storage at Fraunhofer’s industrial plant. The mixing plant will be able to process up to approximately 1,200 liters of electrode slurry per hour.
The Fraunhofer FFB research institution is actively involved in the field of industrial battery production. Companies and research institutes are exploring ways to improve capacity, speed charging time, reduce costs, and further drive innovation.
Bühler has been involved in the Battery Solutions business for over 10 years. Leveraging its proven twin-screw extruder technology for the food and feed industry, Bühler developed a new continuous mixing process for battery slurries. Over these years, Bühler has received orders for more than 70 continuous electrode slurry mixing lines worldwide, with more than half of them being large-scale production plants.
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