Germany: A new Center for Circular Production of Next Batteries and Fuel Cells

On August 18, 2025, the symbolic starting signal was given at the Technical University of Braunschweig for the “Centre for Circular Production of Next Batteries and Fuel Cells” (CPC).

Completion is scheduled for the end of 2027. The new research building, estimated to cost around 73 million Euro, is being funded by the state and federal government with 65 million Euro. It will also “strengthen the regional network of Braunschweig LabFactories for Batteries and More (BLB+), driving its forward-looking development,” the Technical University of Braunschweig gave account.

Thorsten Kornblum (Mayor, City of Braunschweig), Angela Ittel (President, TU Braunschweig), Carsten Müller (Member of the German Parliament, CDU), Falko Mohrs (Lower Saxony Minister of Science and Culture), Prof. Arno Kwade (BLB+, TU Braunschweig) and Torsten Markgräfe (Head of Building Management, TU Braunschweig)

The central goal of the CPC is to integrate recycling and resynthesis processes completely into the circular production of new generations of batteries and energy converters, starting from the product development phase. It is planned that about 150 scientists from the fields of process engineering, recycling, manufacturing technology, chemistry, physics, and logistics will collaborate to conduct research into solid-state batteries, membrane-based flow batteries, fuel cells, and metal-oxygen systems. Particular focus would be given to the recovery of critical raw materials and their processing into high-purity active materials, “which enables a consistently circular economy approach and ensures the sustainable use of valuable resources by closing material cycles”.

The new center is under construction in proximity to the research facilities of TU Braunschweig’s NFF (vehicle engineering) and NFL (aviation), as well as the Fraunhofer Centre for Energy Storage and Systems (ZESS) and the BLB’s (Battery LabFactory Braunschweig) CircularLab test hall. “This means that the CPC is closely linked to energy storage, vehicle, and aviation research, further strengthening both the research focus on mobility in Braunschweig and Lower Saxony’s research activities on the energy transition.”

magazin.tu-braunschweig.de/en/

(Published in GLOBAL RECYCLING Magazine 3/2025, Page 31, Photo: Christian Bierwagen/TU Braunschweig)