Three Major Homogenization Systems in Battery Slurry

The homogenization or slurry mixing system plays an important role in battery slurry. As the front stage in battery manufacturing, it always receives extensive attention in the industry. The slurry mixing system comprises feeding equipment, dosing and batching equipment, mixing equipment, conveying system, etc. In the mixing part, the dual planetary mixing system mainly uses two planetary mixers as the main core in homogenization, the high-efficiency circular homogenization system uses the high-speed homogenizer as the core equipment, and the twin-screw continuous homogenization system uses the twin-screw homogenizer or extruder.

First, for the purchase cost for the same throughput, the dual planetary homogenization system is higher than the high-efficiency circular homogenization system, and the twin-screw continuous homogenization system. For example, the throughput of 1GWh annually requires 4 planetary mixers in the cathode slurry and 4 in the anode. The high-speed homogenizer or twin-screw extruder only needs 2, 1 for the cathode slurry and 1 for the anode.

For the adaptive viscosity of slurry, the high-efficiency circular homogenization system is available with low to medium viscosity. Owing to extrusion generated by two spiral shafts tightly meshed and rotated in the same direction, the twin-screw homogenizer is widely used in slurry from low viscosity to high viscosity, and even dry powder materials. The dual planetary homogenization system can be used for slurry with high viscosity, and also powder materials in high density, which is accessible to the production with high output requirements.

Regarding their respective production advantages, the twin-screw continuous homogenization system can achieve almost seamless from feeding to discharging with uninterrupted homogenization. The slurry is mixed, meshed, sheared, dispersed, stretched under negative pressure, and gets exhausted in the narrow barrel of the combined twin screw structure. As a result, the slurry gets completely diversified and dispersed thereby achieving a better mixing.

The high-efficiency circular homogenization system can quickly complete multiple circulation mixing, and the flow rate of the feeding pump is large. It takes 2 to 3 minutes to finish one circulation mixing in one tank of slurry. The existing slurry may have been circulated nearly 10 times before the feeding powder reached the chamber. The circular homogenization system takes only 0.5-1.5 hours for one batch of slurry mixing while the ordinary mixer requires 4-6 hours, whose efficiency increases 3 times than the latter.

The dual planetary mixing system features good stability which is easy to operate. The operator can quickly master the operation skills since the operation interface of the dual planetary mixer is intuitive and simple. It is also relatively convenient to clean and maintain. The mixing container can be cleaned quickly and replaced to reduce the downtime of the production line.

Driven by the 'DUAL CARBON' GOALS, lithium battery companies are accelerating towards the TWh era. The steadily increasing industry demand and production growth make it natural for lithium battery companies to upgrade the process and technology of the production equipment. The large-scale quality improvement and transformation in production efficiency, slurry quality, production space, energy saving, and other aspects, will become an important requirement for the development of the industry.