Cathode Precursor Production Pilot Plant (C4P) – Stage 3

The Challenge

The Cathode Precursor Production Pilot Plant (C4P) is unique and one of only a small number of facilities available globally to pursue pilot production of precursor cathode materials (pCAM) for the battery industry.

As pCAM production is a technically sophisticated process, industry seeks not only continuous improvement of existing methodologies, but expansion into alternate chemistries (e.g. NCA or Na-ion materials) whilst developing processes that utilise feed stocks with higher impurities.

Lowering industry and commercial barriers to entry and improving cost competitiveness will ensure Western Australia maintains this critical capability.

Key Findings

Semi-batch and continuous modes were piloted. Certain feedstock impurities did not affect pCAM properties, indicating local feedstocks could treat impurity specifications as process-dependent variables rather than fixed constraints.

Nickel, cobalt, manganese and aluminium (NCMA) pCAM was produced as an alternative to NCM. Ti-doped pCAM was tested, targeting reduced degradation during cell cycling.

Different core-shell chemistries were investigated to assess higher energy density with improved structural stability. A theoretical model was developed, which after further validation, has the potential to forecast pCAM product quality, optimise operating conditions and reduce experimental effort.

A Scanning Electron Micrographs (SEM) image-analysis tool was developed to assess some pCAM physical attributes.

Benefits to WA

The project enabled retention of specialised equipment and expertise developed under the Future Batteries Industry Cooperative Research Centre (FBI-CRC).

It identified opportunities to simplify processing, reduce costs, and lower environmental impacts across the battery materials supply chain. It also demonstrated local capability to produce alternative battery chemistries, further developed a pCAM process and scale-up CFD model and commenced automation of analytical workflows.

Report DOI

10.71342/748978941933