Innovations from Thuringia

Since August 2024, the ZirKat project – Circulating raw materials from lithium iron phosphate cathode material (LFP) – has been running at Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences. The aim is to recover raw materials from LFP-type lithium-ion batteries and use them in the production of new batteries. With its Thuringian Innovation Center for Recyclables (ThIWert), the university took over the coordination of the project. Its task consists of the mechanical processes, which include the shredding or sorting of battery components. The company K-UTEC from Sondershausen is responsible for the chemical work packages, while IBU-tec from Weimar handles thermal aspects. Analytik Jena monitors the quality requirements of the raw materials so that EAS Batteries from Nordhausen can test their reuse in batteries. Other companies and institutions from the region have already expressed interest in the project and want to be part of the ThüLiBaRec consortium (Thuringian lithium-ion battery recycling). (maa)