Energy consumption of lithium-ion pouch cell manufacturing plants

Abstract

The energy consumption of lithium-ion battery manufacturing plants is analyzed at three different plant sizes (5, 25, and 50 GWh/year) with each plant producing 100 Ah pouch cells comprised of LiNi0.83Co0.11Mn0.06O2 positive electrodes and graphite negative electrodes. Results indicate that electrode coating/drying (19.6%), cell formation cycling (17%), building support systems (10.8%), cooling systems (10.4%), and the dry room (10.2 %) consume the most energy in the plant. Results are further used to develop a p-factor scaling model for studying the influence of cell design and production volume on plant energy. The p-factor model suggests that the total plant energy consumption is highly dependent on the mass fraction of binder in the positive electrode, due to its impact on the mixing and solvent drying process steps, and the cell's capacity, due to its impact on the cell assembly processes. A simple algebraic correlation is also developed from the p-factor model. The algebraic correlation is dependent on eleven cell input parameters (e.g., cell capacity, electrode loading, voltage, etc.) and has a median error of 1.4% when compared to the full p-factor model.