Press release 10/04/2023
German Ministry of Environment promotes resource-efficient production of electrolytes for energy storage systems
The German Federal Ministry for the Environment is funding a new plant of E-Lyte Innovations GmbH for the production of electrolyte solutions for innovative battery and other energy storage technologies. The project will enable significant chemical savings, lower waste volumes and a reduction in waste air containing (fluorine) hydrocarbons. The pilot project is being funded with almost 800,000 euros from the Federal Environment Ministry’s Environmental Innovation Program and will be implemented at the company’s headquarters in Kaiserslautern (Rhineland-Palatinate).
Pilot plant in Rhineland-Palatinate receives around 800,000 euros from the Environmental Innovation Program
E-Lyte Innovations GmbH develops and produces liquid high-performance electrolytes for batteries and capacitors, which are used in battery-powered vehicles and in space and medical technology, among other applications. The company plans to build an innovative plant for the flexible and environmentally friendly production of electrolyte solutions with a capacity of up to 8,000 tons per year.
Existing plants for the production of liquid electrolytes have the disadvantage that they require large quantities of chemicals, nitrogen inert gas and water for chemical separation (purification), among other things, and also emit polluted exhaust air into the environment. In order to reduce this use of chemicals, a process combination consisting of a continuous mixing process, in which different substances are mixed together continuously and without interruption, and a discontinuous mixing process, in which mixing takes place in separate steps and one after the other, is to be used for the first time in this project. The aim is also to make the production process flexible enough to allow the production of a wide range of electrolyte formulations. This is particularly important in view of the high demand not only for standard electrolytes but also for tailor-made electrolytes for special applications.
The project can save about 100 cubic meters of water, about 20 tons of cleaning waste, and about 6,000 cubic meters of nitrogen per year. In addition, more than 500,000 cubic meters of (fluorine-)hydrocarbon-containing exhaust air and 8 tons of CO2 emissions can be avoided annually. The Environmental Innovation Program supports the first large-scale application of an innovative technology. For a project to be eligible for funding under the Environmental Innovation Program, it must go beyond the state of the art and should have a demonstration character.
Further information on the funding program and the project can be found at: http://www.umweltinnovationsprogramm.de/projekte
