ProBaSol - The aluminium battery - Challenges for industrial production
| Project | Aluminium solid-state battery |
| Duration | 01.01.2020 - 31.12.2022 |
| Funding | Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy |
Project description and research content
The project aims to implement a novel technology for the production of electrochemical energy storage systems as an alternative to lithium-based battery systems. It will benefit from the results of its own completed or ongoing collaborative projects and complete the systematic development of relevant expertise in the sense of a transfer. The focus is on a solid-state battery for mobile high-valent ions and the associated production technology for solid-state electrolytes and electrodes, in particular by means of flash lamp annealing (FLA) and anodic oxidation (AO) in roll-to-roll technology. The main advantages are the achievable energy densities, the high level of safety, the comprehensive availability of the materials and the recyclability of the systems. The volumetric energy density can potentially be twice to four times higher than that of commercial lithium-based batteries. In addition, there is a cost reduction potential of up to 20 % in relation to the price per kWh. The achievement of the goals is to be supported by accompanying technology management and system analysis.
Under the technical direction of Prof. Dr rer. pol. Michael Höck, M. Sc.Sc. Anna Werner is in charge of the work packages.
Bioreactor Leaching - Biohydrometallurgical Centre (BHMZ)
| Project | Biohydrometallurgy |
| Duration | 01.01.2019 - 31.12.2020 |
| Funding | Krüger Foundation |
Project description and research content
The Freiberg Biohydrometallurgical Centre, which has been running since May 2013, has succeeded in developing hydrometallurgy and specifically biohydrometallurgy for the extraction of valuable elements at the TU Bergakademie into a research focus for several professorships.
There are different variants of hydrometallurgical or biohydro-metallurgical process chains. What all variants have in common is that the metal is present at some point in an aqueous, usually acidic solution, from which it is then extracted as a pure metal, usually by solvent extraction and electrowinning.
In a typical case (e.g. copper extraction in Chile), ore is first extracted and crushed from a deposit and then subjected to biological or chemical heap leaching. The use of such a slow and large-scale leaching process is hardly conceivable in Germany, which is why heap leaching was not investigated as part of the BHMZ.
In terms of perspective, the most elegant and environmentally friendly method is in situ leaching directly in the mountain, without conveying the ore to the surface. This is why the BHMZ has always focused on this area of research, and with the installation and commissioning of the BHMZ test rig in the "Reiche Zeche", a unique facility has been created to investigate this possibility and considerable progress has been made in its realisation. Inevitably, however, leaching directly in the mine is relatively complex and there are a number of open questions that will be further investigated in a BHMZ follow-up project (or "BHMZ 2.0").
Bioreactor leaching is the fastest and most controllable. However, it requires a relatively high level of investment and is therefore mainly used for high-value ores (gold extraction) or finely ground concentrates. As will be further substantiated below, bioreactor leaching is a highly interesting option for various locations in the Erzgebirge and is therefore a further focus of the BHMZ. Reactor leaching processes do not necessarily have to be carried out on ore or fresh concentrate, but can also be applied to flotation residues (tailings) from ore processing or recycling material.
In order to ensure that the bioreactor leaching trials are also economically viable, the transfer project will be supported from a business perspective. To this end, market studies for selected target metals, e.g. indium and germanium, are to be prepared and potential material flows, e.g. at the Türkschacht, Niederschlag mine and Davidschacht dump, are to be recorded. Based on the market and material flow analyses, the necessary investment and operating costs as well as the benefits of bioreactor leaching can be estimated. In addition to cost considerations, a key component of the economic feasibility study will be analysing the influence of the process parameters (e.g. duration of leaching, temperature, etc.) on the efficiency of the process in order to enable efficient and effective reactor leaching.
Under the technical supervision of Prof. Dr Michael Höck, M.Sc. Nico Irrgang is in charge of the described work packages.
Publications
together with N. Irrgang, B. Monneron-Enaud, M. Schlömann: Economic feasibility of the co-production of indium from zinc sulphide using bioleaching extraction in Germany, in: Hydrometallurgy, in print.
Centre for Efficient High-Temperature Material Conversion (ZeHS)
| Project | Centre for Efficient High-Temperature Material Conversion (ZeHS) |
| Duration | 01.01.2015 - |
Project description and research content
The focus of the Centre for Efficient High-Temperature Material Conversion (ZeHS) is on the development of innovative, resource- and energy-efficient technologies in the basic materials industry. Process and material requirements in the chemical industry, metallurgy and the ceramics, glass and building materials industries are analysed in a coherent manner and the results transferred to other sectors. Special attention is paid to the utilisation of renewable resources and the creation of closed material and energy cycles as well as the orientation of industrial processes to temporally fluctuating supplies of surplus energy - in particular from solar and wind power - including energy storage. A special feature of the ZeHS is that it deals with topics along the entire innovation chain, from theory to laboratory tests, technical centres and pilot plants through to large-scale test technology. The structure of the ZeHS is as follows.
In addition to the core competence centres for high-temperature processes and high-temperature materials, there are various coordination centres, including for technology management and system analysis.
The technology management of the ZeHS comprises the planning, implementation and control of the development of resource- and energy-efficient high-temperature processes to create competitive advantages for the basic materials industry. The focus is on the technical and economic synergies along the innovation chain from the natural sciences of physics and chemistry to materials science and technology and process engineering through to plant engineering. For high-temperature processes and high-temperature materials, in particular refractory composites, whose application or market entry is still pending, a technology impact assessment must be carried out. The focus is on the opportunities and risks of the technology with regard to the environment and sustainability. Furthermore, the interactions between the process and material requirements of the ZeHS projects must be analysed as part of a system analysis. For market-oriented high-temperature technologies and high-temperature materials, on the other hand, the focus is on innovation management.
Head of the coordination centre: Prof. Dr rer. pol. Michael Höck
Publications
M. Höck: Technologiemanagement und Systemanalyse, in: Herausforderungen der Grundstoffindustrie, D. Meyer et al. (eds.), (in preparation).
Links
INTRA r3+
| Project | INTRA r3+ |
| Duration | 01.06.2012 - 31.03.2017 |
| Funding | BMBF funding |
Project description and research content
The measure "r3 - Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency - Strategic Metals and Minerals", funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, focuses on the development of proposals to increase Germany's security of supply with strategically important resources, especially rare metals and industrial minerals.
The funding measure is part of the BMBF framework programme FONA - Research for Sustainable Development and comprises more than 20 collaborative projects in Germany in the fields of "recycling", "material savings", "substitution", "urban mining" and "sustainability assessment". The overarching integration and transfer project INTRA r3+ is responsible for coordinating, pooling, analysing and evaluating the knowledge generated. The Chair of Industrial Management, Production Management and Logistics is responsible for the following seven research networks as part of INTRA r3+: (Note: The research institutions and universities in brackets refer to the respective project management of the individual research networks.)
ATR:
Digestion, separation and recovery of resource-relevant metals from residues of thermal processes(Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, BAM, Berlin)
CaF2:
Recovery of calcium fluoride as a secondary raw material for fluoropolymers (University of Bayreuth)
EcoTan:
CO2-Tanning - Resource-efficient utilisation of chrome tanning agents through extensive substitution in the tanning process(Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Oberhausen)
ESSENZ:
Integrated method for holistic calculation / measurement of resource efficiency (Technische Universität Berlin)
NickelRück:
Resource-conserving novel nickel recovery from phosphating process water (VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut BFI, Düsseldorf)
SubMag:
Development of an alternative desulphurisation process in the foundry industry for the sustainable substitution of magnesium (University of Duisburg-Essen)
UPgrade:
Integrated approaches to recovering trace metals and improving value creation from waste electrical and electronic equipment (Technische Universität Berlin)
In addition to the coordination function, the Chair of Industrial Management, Production Management and Logistics is responsible for research and development tasks in the work packages Networking and Potential Analysis. This includes:
Organisation of thematic clusters:
The Chair is responsible for establishing and maintaining active, trusting cooperation with the research networks to be supervised. The Chair supports the formation of thematic clusters and their implementation using suitable instruments and methods to strengthen networking between the consortia.
Economic-ecological-social evaluation (sustainability):
In this work package, the Chair is responsible for the holistic evaluation of the results of the project consortia. Using and further developing established evaluation methods, aggregated, overarching impact assessments are considered with regard to the economic, ecological and social sustainability of the developed technologies for more efficient resource utilisation. Aspects such as value creation analysis, life cycle analysis, scaling-up potential and stakeholder analyses are taken into account.
Technology assessment:
In addition to the economic-ecological-social assessment, the Chair analyses and assesses the developed resource efficiency processes according to technological aspects. The analyses focus on estimating market potential and possible development paths. The methods and areas used by the Chair include technology roadmaps, technology trees and technology assessment concepts.
Screening the international environment:
Within this work package, the Chair is responsible for identifying relevant resource efficiency initiatives at European and international level. In addition, government programmes, especially in (mineral) resource-poor and resource-rich countries, are identified and evaluated with regard to their differences and effectiveness as well as scientific and private-sector research activities in, for example, selected industrialised countries and selected emerging economies.
Under the technical leadership of Prof. Dr. rer. pol. Michael Höck, M. Sc. Katja Schneider, Dipl.-Geoökol. Kirstin Kleeberg and Dipl.-Wi.-Ing. Lars Rentsch are entrusted with the management of the seven research networks and the processing of the work packages described above.
Publications
A. Dürkoop, M. Höck, et al: INTRA r³+ Integration and transfer of the r³ funding programme, in: Innovative Technologies for Resource Efficiency, A. Dürkoop et al. (eds.), Stuttgart 2016, pp. 419 - 451.
A. Dürkoop, M. Höck et al: INTRA r³+ Integration und Transfer der r³ Fördermaßnahme - Ergebnisse der Begleitforschung, in: Recycling und Rohstoffe, K. Thome-Kozmiensky / D. Goldmann (eds.), vol. 9, Neuruppin 2016, pp. 253 - 272.