Chemical Engineering March 2022 - 9

Ultra-rapid production of battery materials
using plasma technology
A
new ultra-rapid plasma-based process
could significantly expand the
availability of premium materials for
battery applications. Developed by
6K, Inc. (North Andover, Mass.; www.6kinc.
com), UniMelt is a single-pass, continuous
process that employs a proprietary microwave
torch technology to create a ball of plasma at
6,000K, which can be stretched into a large
production zone. The base materials for battery
cathodes are dissolved in an aqueous solution,
which is sprayed into the plasma reactor
using a high-speed droplet sprayer, where the
water from the solution is immediately evaporated
and captured as steam. " Then, over the
next 2-3 s, the battery materials travel through
the production zone and the particle is synthesized.
Depending on the battery chemistry, the
particle is either ready for use, or it may need
a 1-3-h heat treatment to complete the final
product, " explains Sam Trinch, 6K's president.
This is a vast improvement over current processes,
such as coprecipitation, which can
take as long as 3 d.
" We can process materials from 10 nm up to
hundreds of micrometers, which is a very large
span of particle sizes for a single process, while
also demonstrating many different chemistries
are possible, " notes Trinch. Currently, one of
industry's most attractive chemistry blends is
nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC), and
with the UniMelt process, the stoichiometry of
the blend, as well as the final particle size, can
be finely tuned by simply controlling the proportions
in the aqueous feed, as well as the
process gases (such as N2 or O2) injected during
the reaction. Beyond NMC, UniMelt is also
expanding the exploration of additional battery
materials, such as lithium titanate (LTO), lithium
lanthanum zirconium oxide (LLZO) and various
silicon anodes.
The company is operating two 100-ton/yr
UniMelt units in Pittsburgh that produce
powders for additive manufacturing, and
the company is investing $35 million to
scale up the process for battery applications
at a dedicated facility in Massachusetts.
" The new center will have ten manufacturing
systems for pilot production. By
the end of 2022, we should have roughly
200 to 300 MWh worth of active cathode
materials capacity, " adds Trinch.
in this way are converted
directly into carbon fibers
by a low-pressure stabilization
process, followed
by a carbonization process.
Petroleum-based
raw
materials, which are
usually used in the industrial
production of carbon
fibers, are substituted by
renewable biopolymers.
E-CRACKING
Coolbrook Oy (Helsinki,
Finland; www.cool
brook.fi) and ABB Ltd. (Zurich,
Switzerland; www.
abb.com) have signed a
memorandum of understanding
(MoU) to commercialize
and accelerate
the adoption of Roto Dynamic
Reactor (RDR) technology
that promises to
significantly reduce greenhouse
gas emissions from
steam cracking of olefins.
The agreement will unite
the two companies' expertise
and create a combined
(Continues on p. 10)
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9
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Chemical Engineering March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering March 2022
