Global awareness of climate change, coupled with alarming pollution levels in megacities and ongoing uncertainty around oil price trends is accelerating the market demand for electric vehicles (EVs). According to a report from Grand View Research, the global electric vehicle battery market is projected to reach $198.9 billion by 2030.
This rapid growth is accompanied by significant investments throughout the entire production value chain, ongoing technical innovations, and the establishment of new quality standards. The EV battery production process involves various market segments, including mining, specialty chemicals, polymers, and industrial manufacturing. At each value chain stage, there is a constant need to produce the purest active materials and the cleanest components or sub-systems.
To achieve the required levels of purity or cleanliness, filtration and separation solutions are fully integrated into the production process, regardless of the nature of the streamlines—solid, liquid, or gaseous. High-performance filtration solutions are essential at different fabrication stages to produce pure and uniform active materials, as quality impacts not only the battery's overall performance and thermal stability but also its cost per kWh. Quality assurance controls are implemented throughout the entire EV battery production value chain.
-
Challenge
-
Solution
-
Result
A major chemical company sought to install effective filtration solutions for the pressurized gas circuits that supply its various processing lines, which are used to produce pure cathode active materials. To achieve and maintain a high level of purity and outstanding product characteristics over time, it was essential that no traces of liquid or solid contaminants, such as oil or grease, be present in the gas streams. The company requested our expertise in defining the appropriate filtration technologies and sizing the systems installed in its gas streams.
The selection of filtration and separation solutions was primarily driven by two key factors: the operating conditions of the various pressurized gas lines and the micron ratings necessary to achieve the required purity level for the process. This included ensuring no traces of oil, grease, water, or solid contaminants, particularly metallic and carbon particles.
The sizing of the filters was determined to optimize filtration performance while minimizing the total cost of ownership. Below is an overview of the technologies we selected in collaboration with the chemical company:
- Pall Profile® Coreless 0.3 µm filter for the Clean Dry Air (CDA) line
- Pall Profile Coreless coarse grade and 0.3 µm filter for the Carbon Free Air (FCA) line
- Pall Profile Coreless 0.3 µm filter for nitrogen (N2)
- Pall Aerolith® S 05 filter (<1 µm) for pure oxygen (O2)
This selection ensures effective filtration tailored to the specific requirements of each gas line.
Pall defined with the chemical company the air filtration and separation technologies and solutions to install in its new manufacturing plant to deliver pure gases required to produce its high-quality cathode active materials. To minimize the cost of ownership, ensure continuous production and simplify the maintenance operations as much as possible, different configurations of vessels were considered on the pressurized gas lines – single & multi-element vessels, simplex & duplex systems, 304L & 316L stainless steel.
Contact our experts for more gas filtration solutions below.