Challenges and Opportunities with Continuous Electrode Slurry Mixing in Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing

Abstract

The growing demand for lithium-ion batteries has intensified the need for efficient and sustainable manufacturing methods. This literature review investigates the feasibility and potential advantages of continuous slurry mixing compared to the traditional batch mixer for production of lithium-ion batteries. Key performance parameters such as slurry quality, operational efficiency, and production cost are evaluated to compare the two mixing systems. By drawing from scientific literature as well as insights from researchers and industry experts, this study finds that continuous mixing offers clear advantages over batch mixing, particularly in terms of slurry quality and operational efficiency. Furthermore, the study explores why the batch mixer (planetary mixer) remains the industry standard and goes on to assess if the continuous mixer is better suited for potential changes to slurry composition. The findings suggest that continuous mixing is indeed better equipped to handle variations in slurry composition. However, its limited adoption at industrial scale is primarily due to lack of large-scale studies replicating laboratory and pilot-scale experiments, resulting in insufficient data on the industry-scale performance of the twin-screw extruder.