Lithium-ion Battery Production

Safely handling potentially harmful  Li-ion battery chemical powders, binders, active materials and conductive carbon additives requires contained, secure and efficient powder handling equipment that guarantees operator safety.

Due to the hazardous properties of the powders used in battery manufacturing and recycling, and the particle sizes and properties of the materials means that they are poor flowing, toxic and consequently problematic to handle.

Powder temperature maintenance to avoid changes during process flow resulting in potentially explosive powders.

Moisture sensitive powders need to be treated carefully to avoid waste and equipment degradation.

Bulk transfer of material between sites demand robust, contained units when being transported.

Whether you're formulating, transporting or discharging hazardous, abrasive and poor flowing powders, a Matcon IBC Powder Handling System provides the answer to support your battery manufacturing process.

Automated, contained powder handling delivered by our IBC solutions delivers a dust-free environment and safe transfer of hazardous materials without the risk of contamination or exposure to the operator.

The Matcon Cone Valve within each of our Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs) ensures that poor flowing powders are transferred safely and completely into the downstream battery compound process.

Matcon are powder process experts, supplying materials handling equipment with product contact and non-contact parts in a material of construction to suit your particular lithium-ion battery manufacturing needs. Our IBCs range from 500L to 3500L and dependent on the application, come in Stainless Steel, Mild Steel and Polyethylene, with the ability to apply inert coatings if needed.

Our IBC-based solution provides the following process benefits:

• Flexibility to change blending batch sizes according to demand & remove bottlenecks​
• Automated, contained powder handling and discharge for a dust-free environment​
• Discharge control of poor flowing powders with no powder degradation​
• Packing without the need for cross-feeders or vertical screws as GIW/LIW refilling capabilities are available direct from the IBC​
• Moisture control as the system remains closed​
• Controls integration with high level control systems (SCADA & ERP systems) as well as AGVs
• Equipment approved for most ATEX classifications
• UN/DOT Certification for safe road transport between site locations.

Our IBC systems can be automated and fully contained, giving you the ability to control difficult-to-handle powders with no need for manual intervention or risk to operators, expanding your capabilities.

Controlled powder discharge is provided by the unique Matcon Cone Valve technology inside each of our Intermediate Bulk Containers (IBCs). This superb discharge device overcomes all of the typical powder flow problems such as bridging, blocking, flushing and core-flow and delivers effective powder handling and discharge, ensuring that battery manufacturers always benefit from accurately discharged materials with no blend segregation.

A Matcon IBC Tumble Blender achieves a flexible and efficient mixing process with rapid batch changeovers. With the IBC becoming the blending vessel, there is no downtime for cleaning and no risk of cross-contamination. All filling and emptying take place independent of the blender.

Matcon’s Air Washing system reduces downtime and maximizes production by keeping all the manufacturing process steps working whilst IBCs are cleaned off-line. The process is fully validatable for approval by regulatory authorities.