Integrated Material-Energy-Quality Assessment for Lithium-ion Battery Cell Manufacturing

Abstract

Storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are a key technology to enable emerging transportation as well as sustainable energy policies. The manufacturing of LIB cells is characterized by high scrap rates of up to 40 % in the industry and a high energy demand, leading to a high environmental impact and high costs. Furthermore, the LIB cells themselves and their manufacturing are highly complex systems with various quality parameters and complex material flows. However, with the rising demand for energy storage technologies, the production of LIB cells needs to become more environmentally friendly and more cost-effective. To achieve this, a better understanding and a higher transparency of the material and energy flows in the context of quality parameters is needed. This paper presents a gate-to-gate methodology for the evaluation of material and energy efficiency in context of quality parameters of LIB cell manufacturing. The implementation of the presented concept is based on data acquisition and a tracking and tracing system and tested at the pilot production line of the Battery LabFactory Braunschweig (BLB). The results of this assessment can be used as inputs for further sensitivity analysis in system assessment methodologies such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) or Life Cycle Costing (LCC) respectively Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).