{"id":81393,"date":"2026-03-23T13:35:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/?post_type=kb_presseinformation&p=81393"},"modified":"2026-03-25T23:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:03:25","slug":"battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste","status":"publish","type":"kb_presseinformation","link":"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Battery production: What to do with the waste?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of a high-profile consortium of researchers and industry experts, Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig is working to feed production waste from gigafactories directly back into the manufacturing cycle. The aim is to reduce dependence on raw material imports drastically and halve the environmental footprint of lithium-ion batteries. After all, in future battery production, waste will be seen as a valuable resource rather than something to be disposed of.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite state-of-the-art technology, the scrap rate in battery cell production \u2014 particularly during the ramp-up phase \u2014 often exceeds 10 per cent. As these materials contain valuable elements such as lithium, nickel and cobalt, destroying them or recycling them using conventional, energy-intensive methods is economically and environmentally inefficient. The SkArec joint project (Scaled and Resource-Conserving Scrap Recycling for Industrial Battery Cell Production) is taking an innovative approach to this challenge by focusing on direct recycling<\/strong>. In this process, anode and cathode materials are processed using dry-mechanical or solvent-based methods, so they do not need to be broken down chemically at the molecular level.<\/p>\n

From the laboratory to the gigafactory<\/h3>\n

The processes have already been successfully tested on a laboratory scale within the Recycling & Green Battery (greenBatt) competence cluster of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, now BMFTR). SkArec is now scaling these processes up to an industrial pilot scale (Technology Readiness Level 6):<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Dry mechanical processing (cathode): scaling up to a throughput of 50 kg\/h,<\/li>\n
  • Solvent-based processing (anode): scaling up to 10 kg\/h,<\/li>\n
  • Development of a plant layout for large-scale industrial facilities with a throughput of 1 t\/h.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Innovation through quality assurance and modular plants<\/h3>\n

    To ensure that high recycling rates can be achieved, the researchers are defining so-called quality gates<\/b>. Threshold values for impurities are established through in-depth physical and chemical analyses. This provides the necessary assurance for the industrial reuse of secondary materials in new battery cells.<\/p>\n

    Furthermore, the project relies on modular recycling plants<\/b>. This concept enables companies to adapt their recycling capacities flexibly to production volumes, reduce initial investment costs and strengthen Germany\u2019s competitiveness as a business location.<\/p>\n

    A contribution to climate targets<\/h3>\n

    With its focus on energy and resource efficiency, the SkArec joint project makes a significant contribution to the overarching battery research strategy of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The aim: to manufacture batteries from secondary materials that have a greenhouse gas potential of no more than 50 per cent of that of primary batteries.<\/p>\n

    A strong consortium for the battery transition<\/h3>\n

    The project brings together partners from academia and industry to pool expertise across the entire value chain:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • VARTA Microbattery GmbH (VMB): Provision of scrap material, cell manufacturing and industrial validation.<\/li>\n
    • TU Braunschweig (iPAT): Expertise in process technology and structure-property relationships, development and optimisation of scrap recycling on a laboratory scale.<\/li>\n
    • Aalen University (IMFAA): Microstructural analysis and development of quality gates.<\/li>\n
    • Hosokawa Alpine AG & acp systems AG: Mechanical and plant engineering for the scaling of mechanical and wet chemical processes.<\/li>\n
    • EurA AG: Environmental (LCA) and economic (LCC) assessment.<\/li>\n
    • E-LYTE (Associated Partner): Development of specialised electrolytes for recycled materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      As part of a high-profile consortium of researchers and industry … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":81329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","class_list":["post-81393","kb_presseinformation","type-kb_presseinformation","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","kb_cat_presse-research","kb_tags-economy","kb_tags-energy","kb_tags-sustainability","kb_tags_internal-alumni"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBattery production: What to do with the waste? - TU Braunschweig | Blogs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As part of a high-profile consortium of researchers and industry experts, Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig is working to feed production waste from\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Battery production: What to do with the waste? - TU Braunschweig | Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As part of a high-profile consortium of researchers and industry experts, Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig is working to feed production waste from\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/en\/pi-post\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TU Braunschweig | Blogs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T22:03:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_0436_SkArec.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/\",\"name\":\"Battery production: What to do with the waste? - TU Braunschweig | Blogs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/IMG_0436_SkArec.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-23T12:35:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-25T22:03:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"As part of a high-profile consortium of researchers and industry experts, Technische Universit\u00e4t Braunschweig is working to feed production waste from\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/en\\\/pi-post\\\/battery-production-what-to-do-with-the-waste\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/IMG_0436_SkArec.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/magazin.tu-braunschweig.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/IMG_0436_SkArec.jpg\",\"width\":1500,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Kick-off-Treffen f\u00fcr das Forschungsprojekt SkArec in Braunschweig (12.02.2026). 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