CrossLab aims to establish a cross-university, interdisciplinary network of digitally generated laboratory modules that can be combined as needed in a learning environment for student-centered teaching, implementing the concept of Industry 4.0. The partners, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, TU Ilmenau, TU Dortmund University, and NORDAKADEMIE, are developing and evaluating solutions at the didactic, technical, and organisational levels.

• Term: 01.08.2021 - 31.12.2025
• Project partners: TU Dortmund, TU Ilmenau and NORDAKDEMIE

• Funding organisation: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschule

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The joint project "Hy2Cycle" aims to develop resource-efficient and recyclable cells and stacks for fuel cells (FC) and electrolysers (EL). The project focuses on developing concepts for high-pressure alkaline electrolysers and fuel cells to enhance efficiency through increased pressure, as well as a reversible cell concept for proton exchange membrane electrolysers and fuel cells. The focus of both concepts is the consideration of a recycling-friendly approach, which is why new recycling processes and influences on damage in the sense of a circular economy are being tested and implemented from design to operation. This endeavour requires the development of innovative and appropriate recycling procedures. To this end, we are developing thermal, mechanical, and chemical processes tailored to the unique conditions of composite materials used in electrolysis cells. We analyse the influence and durability of recycled materials during processing and use simulations to estimate degradation and predict age. Energy-efficient and resource-saving EL and FC are the basis for a successful hydrogen economy. The Saxon Hydrogen Union networks Saxony's three best centres of expertise in their respective fields for the research and development of EL, FC, and material recycling.

• Term: 01.07.2025 - 30.06.2028
• Project partners: TU Dresden, HTW Dresden, TU Chemnitz
• Funding bodies: SAB / ERDF

The METALLICO project is researching the recovery of battery metals. It consists of a strategic consortium along the entire value chain, which includes primary and secondary sources of critical and battery metals (such as lithium, cobalt, copper, manganese and nickel). The aim is to test new processes for the production of battery-compatible materials and demonstrate the social acceptance, sustainability, and economic opportunities of these solutions. The focus of the TC's work is on the extraction of lithium carbonate in battery units from raw materials containing spodumene.

• Term: 01.01.2023 - 31.12.2026

• Funding body: EU Horizon

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Carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) are specifically very lightweight composite materials with high strength values. They consist of carbon fibres and a plastic matrix, in which they are embedded. In the "PyReCA" project, a new, complete process chain for the material recycling of carbon fibre reinforced plastics (CFRP) is to be developed using microwave-assisted pyrolysis. The field of activity ranges from the mechanical processing of CFRP-containing waste to the extraction of recycled carbon fibres (rC fibres) and chemical precursors from the decomposition of the composite material through to the mechanical, chemical, and thermal post-treatment of the recycling products. The aim is to develop a complete plant that will be used as a prototype and demonstrator.

• Term: 01.07.2019 - 30.06.2028
• Project partners: Linn High Temp GmbH, Grimm Schirp GmbH, LuxChemtech GmbH
• Funding body: BMWi

Practical training is an important pillar of study programmes in the natural sciences and engineering, although traditional internships often consist of isolated experiments that do not reflect the complexity and interconnectedness of real technological processes. The isolated consideration of processes thus misses the great opportunity to promote the networked thinking and working that is often required in research and industry.
The ReFineLab project aims to address these challenges in the teaching-learning process by developing a research-orientated practical. Process steps that were previously considered individually, the linking of which often represents the greatest challenge in technology, are to be realised through a novel structuring of the practical course. The SINReM degree programme, with its holistic approach to processes at its core, is particularly well-suited for such a practical course. In the research-orientated practical course ReFineLab, students work in small groups to separate a target product from a technically relevant raw material by carefully combining process steps. The task requires students to independently combine various experimental facilities and analytical methods to achieve this goal.

• Term: 01.04.2024 - 31.03.2026
• Supported by: Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschule

The purpose of the "RegioREC" research project is to create safe, adaptable technological processes for the economic recycling of multipurpose lithium-ion batteries in standard, regionally decentralised recycling plants. The approach is an open platform for different processing technologies that can be embedded in the respective regional process context through sensor-based process control and an integrated process environment. This high level of technological and data interoperability is a key to broad recycling opportunities and makes recycling processes accessible for learning system solutions and the use of AI, from which recycling processes in the context of electromobility will also benefit in the future.

The sub-project aims to recover lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF₆), the most important representative of conductive salts, which is dissolved in an electrolyte matrix and enables the transport of electricity. It is therefore essential for the production of LIB cells. No conductive salt recovery is currently carried out. All recycling processes focus on the separation and recovery of the valuable elements Co, Ni, and Mn, as well as, more recently, Li. In the subproject, LiPF₆ is decomposed by means of a novel cyclic process, separated from the electrolyte, and finally recovered by resynthesis. The aim of the work is to enable the recovery of the conductive salt on a laboratory and demonstrator scale with a yield of >90% and a battery-grade purity of >99.5% for reuse in cell production.

• Term: 01.07.2025 - 30.06.2028
• Project partners: ULT AG, meta Messtechnische Systeme GmbH, DKS GmbH, Fraunhofer IKTS, Fraunhofer IWS
• Funding organisation: BMFTR

With this project, we intend to further develop the SINReM M.Sc. programme to strengthen entrepreneurial aspects and provide students with new insights into modern technologies and future trends, especially with regard to DeepTech, green and digital transformations.

• Term: 01.01.2024 - 31.12.2027
• Funding body: EIT Raw Materials

The aim of this project is to develop a technology for the production of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and methyl formate (MeFo). These substances will not only have a reduced CO₂ balance but will also be suitable as non-toxic and environmentally friendly building blocks for the mobility transition, not least because DMC is also essential as an electrolyte for e-mobility. For climate-friendly production, CO₂ from sustainable sources is to be used, which can be activated with electrolysis hydrogen in the value chain. The focus of the work at the Institute of Technical Chemistry is on the catalytic production of methanol and its subsequent catalytic conversion to MeFo.

• Term: 01.03.2023 - 28.02.2026
• Funding body: BMDV