Battery Manufacturing

Continuous Manufacturing of Battery Compounds Using Twin Screw Extruders

The use of ZSK twin screw extruders in a continuous manufacturing process allows for both cost-efficient and environmentally friendly battery production.

The use of ZSK twin screw extruders in a continuous manufacturing process allows for both cost-efficient and environmentally friendly battery production.

For the efficient production of battery masses

Coperion’s ZSK Mc18 twin screw extruder’s numerous technical achievements, all perfectly attuned to one another, make it the ideal extruder for maximum reliability and profitability, achieving the highest quality and exceeding throughput requirements.

The Coperion ZSK twin screw extruder’s mixing properties provide the homogeneity necessary for superior end product quality in battery compounds. The process sections of all ZSK series extruders feature a modular design which allows our process engineers to modify the configuration of the barrel and screw elements to your individual application. 

Learn more about the ZSK extruder. 

Your advantages at a glance

  • High flexibility: The extruder’s throughput can be quickly modified to meet the requirements of the production steps to follow, optimizing the entire process.
  • The process section’s modular construction allows for flexible and individual modifications to recipes and process requirements.
  • Use of the same equipment for the production of electrode compounds in both dry and wet processes.
  • Precise dispersive and distributive mixing leads to higher homogeneity and excellent product quality.
  • The extruder’s high conveying efficiency and self-cleaning function increase material efficiency.
  • Short residence times in the extruder — minimal thermal stress on the material
  • Safe devolatilization of even the most challenging materials to devolatilize
  • Excellent feed behavior, even when processing materials with low bulk density
  • Special construction materials avoid end product contamination
  • Containment-secure systems up to OEB level 4
  • Modern controls and remote service for complex production processes

Continuous manufacturing of battery compounds

Continuous production can optimize the Li-ion battery manufacturing process significantly. The Coperion ZSK twin screw extruder, in combination with high-accuracy Coperion K-Tron feeders, offers high process stability and precision to ensure excellent, reproducible end product quality. Our systems are highly reliable and offer a long service life. Greater material efficiency as well as more cost-efficient and climate-friendly battery cell production can be achieved using continuous production in comparison to conventional processes.

Advantages of continuous manufacturing (versus traditional processes):

  • Increased profitability

    •  Reduced space and personnel requirements

    • High reliability, minimizing downtimes

    • Lower investment costs

       

  • Tailor-made machine concept and high flexibility

    • Production range between 2 l/h up to 2,000 l/h possible, depending upon machine size

    • Wide variety of recipes possible

       

  • Extrusion allows for climate-friendly recipes with high proportions of solid content

    •  Significant reduction in solvent content or substitution with water in existing recipes

    • Energy use decreases due to shorter drying times

       

  • Reduced Cleaning Times
    • Continuous processing results in fewer starts and stops, leading to reduced downtimes and machine cleaning
  • Quick recipe changes

    • Ingredient ratios can be changed quickly and easily by modifying feed rates

    • Operators can continuously check product quality and rapidly correct deviations

       

       
Typical set-up of a continuous production line of Li-ion battery masses
Typical set-up of a continuous production line of Li-ion battery masses

Typical set-up of a continuous production line of Li-ion battery masses

Suitable materials for every task

Due to the often abrasive and sometimes corrosive properties of the raw materials being processed, the parts of Coperion extruders that come into contact with the product are made of materials offering particularly high resistance to wear.

This makes it possible to avoid contamination of the end product from detached metal particles over the long term, even when processing ultra-hard silicon carbides.

Coperion Battery Lab System

Laboratory equipment for in-house research and development

For proprietary research and development, Coperion offers the ZSK 18 MEGAlab and ZSK 26 extruders. These high-performance laboratory extruders, together with high-accuracy Coperion K-Tron feeders, offer superior performance for research and recipe development and testing, as well as sample and small-batch production. 

Learn more.

Advantages at a glance

  • Short, quick experiments
  • High flexibility: System changes can be implemented quickly
  • High reliability, long operational and service life
  • Raw material efficiency, reduced cleaning and downtime thanks to self-cleaning screw elements
  • Reliable scale-up to larger ZSK extruders
Coperion test lab

Coperion Test Labs.

We Help you Optimize your Processes Safely.

We offer the ideal platform for testing changes or innovations to your products and formulations. In addition to simulation and scale-up expertise, we have the equipment at our disposal for comprehensive tests under realistic production conditions.

Test Centers

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