The German Fraunhofer Society for Battery Cell Research FFB and the Swiss technology company Bühler Group are strengthening their collaboration. The Fraunhofer FFB has been using Bühler's technology to mix electrode paste since 2021. The 30-millimeter extruder from Bühler will be used by the research and development teams at the new location in Münster, where the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is building a test facility (FFB PreFab) on over 6,000 square meters. At the same time, the Fraunhofer Society is building a research facility, the so-called FFB-Fab, in which the 93-millimeter extruder from Bühler will enable an hourly throughput of up to 1,200 liters of battery paste.
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft intends to take a leading role in the development of industrial battery production systems in Europe. The construction of a new test facility at the Münster research and development site and a gigafactory on the same site are part of this plan.
“The Fraunhofer FFB has a clear goal. We research and develop solutions for scaling production technologies for lithium-ion batteries. Our customers are German automobile manufacturers who want to get into battery production in order to make themselves more independent of international suppliers and system manufacturers in the battery industry,” explains Markus Eckstein, head of Fraunhofer FFB research.
Pilot system FFB Workspace and FFB PreFab
The complete outer shell of the FFB PreFab, the next milestone of the Fraunhofer FFB, is already ten kilometers further south of the current pilot plant (FFB Workspace), in the Hansa Business Park Münster. The construction work is scheduled to be completed in 2024 and the existing 30-millimeter extruder system from Bühler will move into the FFB-PreFab. The pilot system combines industrial-grade production performance with simple operation.
“Thanks to the modular structure, a very large number of process parameters can be set within a very short time and the mixing process can therefore be adapted very efficiently,” says Philipp Stössel, Team Manager Process Technology Grinding & Dispersing at Bühler.
In the FFB PreFab, the teams conduct research with customers and universities on an area of 6,000 square meters.
“In our innovation modules we can take advantage of the shorter changeover and cleaning times. “In this way, we can improve existing processes, apply new technologies and transfer the knowledge gained to industrial applications,” says Eckstein.
Bühler's continuous mixing process is unique in the industry. It enables raw material dosing, premixing, kneading, fine dispersing and degassing in a single machine.
Collaboration with Fraunhofer
In another collaboration, Bühler has won a public tender and will equip the Fraunhofer industrial facility with a 93-millimeter extruder as well as a highly developed system for handling, storing and dosing the raw materials and for storing the paste. The system will be able to process up to 1200 liters of electrode paste per hour.
Industrial battery production in research and industry
The Fraunhofer research facility FFB is a sign of the dynamic development that the topic of industrial battery production is taking in research and industry. Companies and research institutes are looking for ways to improve capacity, reduce loading time, reduce costs and further drive innovation.
The potential of the research field is great and Bühler is ready to work together with its research partners and the automotive industry on a sustainable future. Bühler founded its Battery Solutions division more than ten years ago. Based on the proven twin screw extruder technology for the food and feed industry, Bühler developed a new continuous mixing process for electrode paste. During these years, Bühler has received orders for more than 70 continuous electrode paste mixing systems worldwide, more than half of which are large systems.
