Project Information:
Project Partner:
Volkswagen AG
TANIOBIS
Schmalz
Viscom
RWTH Aachen
Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST
Motivation:
The increasing demand for battery storage is leading to a transformation in numerous sectors of the economy. While jobs related to the internal combustion engine are being reduced in traditional automotive manufacturing, a new eco-system is emerging around the battery, consisting of battery development, battery production, and battery recycling.
In this new market environment, battery manufacturers from Asia and raw material suppliers from South America and Africa dominate. In order to build up a European counterweight in this international competition, a value chain consisting of battery production and battery recycling is to be localized in Germany. This will enable a circular economy of battery materials, secure strategically important raw materials for the German location that previously had to be imported, and reduce the dependence of European battery production on other regions. In addition, this makes it possible to meet the ambitious goals of European legislation under the new EU Battery Directive, which places great emphasis on recycling.
Project Description:
The "HVBatCycle" project has the overarching goal of developing innovative, sustainable, and energy-efficient processes along the value chain of high-voltage batteries from electric vehicles and to understand them in greater depth in order to enable the closed-loop recycling of battery materials in the near future. In particular, the processes for unmixed disassembly, for ecologically efficient recycling of end-of-life batteries, and for the production of new battery materials from the recovered secondary raw materials are developed. Furthermore, the project will demonstrate their scalability and economic viability.
Contact:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade
a.kwade(at)tu-braunschweig.de