The Institute of Automotive Management and Industrial Production (AIP) headed by Prof. Dr. Thomas S. Spengler works on the development and the application of techno-economic models and quantitative methods to support decision-making in production and logistics. The research at the interface between technology, economy, and sustainability addresses, among others, the following topics that are relevant for the cluster: (closed-loop) supply chain management, material flow management, circular economy, recycling, and impact assessment. Exemplary research questions from completed publicly and privately funded projects in the context of lithium-ion batteries comprise the investment and capacity planning for battery factories, the simulation of the automotive market to analyze vehicle sales and returns, and analyses of economic feasibility of battery recycling.

Within the competence cluster greenBatt, the AIP is represented in the research project SIMTEGRAL and the accompanying project greenBattNutzung. In the research project SIMTEGRAL, the work of the AIP focuses on the modeling, the socio-economic assessment, and the design of supply chains for battery materials. By developing and refining activity analysis-based modeling techniques and linking them to engineering-based simulation methods as well as mathematical optimization procedures, we seek to provide insights regarding the design of sustainable supply chains. In the accompanying project greenBattNutzung, the AIP is responsible for the development of scenarios regarding the future flows of spent batteries as well as the conception and execution of economic assessments of second-use concepts and recycling processes to support the decision-making of industry and politics.

Project participation

greenBattNutzung

SIMTEGRAL

The InES contributes substantial progress in the four research areas Batteries, Pharma-Process Systems Engineering, Energy Systems and Electrochemical Process Engineering. The scientific work at the InES is based on the development of process systems engineering concepts and their applications, where particular attention is paid to the analysis and optimisation of (electro-) chemical processes using multi-scale simulations. For this purpose, our modern laboratories supply the required data and complete our model-based research by extensive validation experiments.

The main objective of InES within the project SIMTEGRAL is to provide a detailed, first-principles data basis to evaluate and optimise the circular economy system for batteries. To this end, we at InES will generate a digital twin representing the system’s relevant features – based on dynamic and experimentally validated simulation models of manufacturing or recycling processes of various metals or other components (value chains). The digital twin includes:

• All central battery raw materials and associated co-products, both for primary and secondary routes.
• Material, energy and water.
• Products, residues, and emissions.

Project participation

SIMTEGRAL

The Institute for Engineering Design (IK, Prof. Vietor) at the Technical University of Braunschweig has extensive expertise in the field of methodical product development and design. For more than fifty years, scientifically based methods and tools for supporting interdisciplinary teams have been developed and transferred into practical application. The research focuses range from the pure fundamentals of engineering design, to design for additive manufacturing processes, to application-specific topics such as the development of sustainable energy storage systems and vehicle concepts, lightweight construction and functional integration, as well as the further development of computer-aided approaches. The institute is divided into the working groups Integrated Product Development, Energy Storage Systems, Vehicle Concepts, Lightweight and Hybrid Construction and Additive Manufacturing Technologies.

At the Institute for Design Engineering (IK), strategies, methods and tools for supporting the development process of energy storage systems are developed and transferred into practical application. The focus is primarily on the description and modelling of holistic systems (systems engineering) and their use over all phases of life (cycle management). In this context, the working group Energy Storage Systems (ESS) in particular deals with design methodological issues at different levels of the value chain. These range, e.g. from the constructive design of the cell (including FEM, safety modelling) to the development of optimized module and pack architectures up to the integration of entire systems into the vehicle. Among other things, the focus is on safety assessments using predictive simulation techniques (e.g. multiphysics modeling of the “thermal runaway”). This enables the modeling of operational behavior (life-phase oriented) as well as abuse scenarios (e.g. crash) and the depiction of aging behavior. With regard to the avoidance of “open loops” in the material cycle and the reduction of environmental impacts, cycle-oriented design approaches are applied and cycle management options for energy storage systems are identified.

Project participation

ReDesign (Lead)

At the Institute for Particle Technology (iPAT), the focus is on the production, conditioning and processing of particles in order to create innovative products, including the development of digital twins. In terms of process engineering, particular attention is paid to processes for grinding, dispersing, classifying, mixing, granulating, conveying and storing particles or powders. In the field of battery process engineering, we do research on topics ranging from basic research at the particle level to industrial process and manufacturing technology of electrodes and their in-depth characterization. The process chain of electrode manufacturing and a semi-automated cell construction for testing process and procedure parameter variations are established on a pilot scale within the “Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB)”. As an interdisciplinary research center, the BLB covers the entire value chain from material and electrode production to the cell and module to system integration and recycling.

The mechanical and thermal recycling processes and their coupling with hydrometallurgy were developed by iPAT primarily within the framework of the Lithorec I and Lithorec II projects and have since been brought to industrial maturity. Within the framework of greenBatt, the Institute for Particle Technology is investigating in particular the mechanical reprocessing of aged cells and production rejects in combination with thermal processes for the treatment of electrolyte components and binders. The process chain is continuously monitored and energy parameters are recorded. The recorded parameters are in turn used in the simulations and modeling for the holistic description and evaluation of the process chain. In addition, initial adaptations of the established processes to batteries with solid-state chemistry are being evaluated and implemented on a laboratory scale.

Project participation

Within the Chair of Sustainable Production and Life Cycle Engineering (NPLCE), the Institute of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering is engaged in research on a systematic approach to the design of product life cycles under the requirements of a sustainable development. Accordingly, the institute has extensive/comprehensive expertise in the economic, ecological and simulative-technological analysis and evaluation of industrial production and recycling process chains. Further, the IWF is a founding member of the Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB) and coordinates, among other things, the cross-sectional field of Sustainable Value Chains and Factory Systems with the topics of energy and material flow modeling, factory/process chain simulation as well as Life Cycle Costing (LCC) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

Within the competence cluster, the Chair of Sustainable Production and Life Cycle Engineering (NPLCE) of the IWF is in charge of the project management within the accompanying project greenBattNutzung. The IWF will contribute methods of (computational) life cycle engineering to numerous projects and further develop them in the context of battery recycling (projects SIMTEGRAL, S²tar, ReDesign, ecoLiga, PyroLith). The aim of the work is, among other things, to derive recommendations for action for a more sustainable design of battery life cycles. In addition, the IWF is leading the DiRectION project, which aims to digitize recycling processes with the goal of increasing energy and resource efficiency.

Project participation