Game Changing Solid State Sodium Chloride Batteries for Grid Storage and UPS as well as Innovative Battery Material Products.

Altech has executed a joint venture agreement with leading German battery institute, Fraunhofer IKTS (“IKTS”) to commercialise the Sodium Chloride Solid State (SCSS) Battery.

Altech, together with associated entity Altech Advanced Materials AG, is the majority owner at 75% of the joint venture company to commercialise a 100 MWh project to be situated at Altech’s site in Schwarze Pumpe, Saxony, Germany.

SCSS batteries, brand named CERENERGY® Battery, use high-purity alumina for the critical ceramic solid state electrolyte, which is a strong link to Altech’s core business and competency.

The SCSS batteries are lithium, graphite, copper and cobalt free, and instead use sodium (common table salt).

Altech has immediate entry into the sodium nickel chloride battery market in Australia, Europe and United States of America through a strategic collaboration and distribution agreement with the current largest SNC battery manufacturer AMPower, a subsidiary of the Chilwee Group. Chilwee is the third largest e-mobility battery manufacturer in China, with an annual turnover of US$20 billion, 23,000 employees, and production capabilities spanning lead-acid, lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and next-generation battery technologies.

AMPower currently manufactures conventional Zebra-type sodium nickel chloride (Na/NiCl2) solid-state batteries—using the same chemistry as CERENERGY®—but mainly for the small Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) industrial market. AMPower was originally established as a joint venture with General Electric to produce sodium nickel chloride UPS batteries under the Durathon brand.

Altech has developed the technology to nano-coat particles of graphite (typical of those used in lithium-ion batteries) and silicon with a layer of high-purity alumina (HPA).

The use of alumina coated graphite and silicon particles within a lithium-ion battery anode are offered as a solution to increased battery life, energy capacity and reduction of the first-cycle capacity loss. The Company achieved a breakthrough with this technology, and in November 2021, announced that it had achieved a 30% higher energy density in testing performed on lithium-ion batteries.

The Company has finalised a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) for the construction of a high-purity alumina (HPA) battery materials coating plant in Saxony, Germany. The PFS has achieved outstanding economics including an NPV of US$507M, IRR of 40% and payback period of 3.1 years.

Work on the preliminary engineering design for the 10,000 tpa battery materials plant is in the final stages of completion. Altech has achieved green accreditation of the project and construction is already underway for a battery materials coating pilot plant at the Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park, Saxony, Germany.