Altech Chemicals Ltd (ASX:ATC)’s recent site visit to its Silumina Anodes™ pilot plant in Saxony, Germany, has led to a final construction contract with Küttner GmbH & Co. KG.
Küttner is a German engineering firm with strong experience in delivering metallurgical plant projects and has worked with Altech to complete final plant engineering design and cost estimation. It has strong experience in design, procurement, project and construction management and plant commissioning across a range of industries.
Altech has chosen a partner that previously completed metallurgical plant, water and off-gas treatment projects in Germany and that brings valuable local knowledge to the execution of the project.
The Basic Engineering phase has confirmed key design parameters, locking in key equipment capacities and validating operational criteria.
Work to start immediately
Küttner will start work straight away on the procurement process, with construction of the pilot plant to follow when equipment arrives toward the end of 2022.
The pilot plant is designed to produce 120 kilograms per day of Silumina Anodes™ coated battery anode material, which will be made available to selected European battery manufacturers and auto-makers.
The pilot plant will be established in Dock3 (leased warehouse space), next door to Altech’s land in Schwarze Pumpe Industrial Park in Saxony.
Cashed up for construction
Altech had a cash position at the end of March 2022 of A$11.571 million and is well funded to construct and complete the pilot plant, which is estimated to cost A$7.177 million.
Costs will be split between Altech (75% owner), which will fund A$5.382 million of the costs and Altech Advanced Materials AG (25% owner), which will put in A$1.794 million.
About Altech
Altech is a specialty battery materials technology company that has licensed its proprietary high purity alumina coating technology to 75% owned subsidiary Altech Industries Germany GmbH (AIG), which has started a definitive feasibility study for the development of a 10,000 tonnes per annum silicon/graphite alumina coating plant in Saxony, to supply its Silumina Anodes™ product to the burgeoning European electric vehicle market.
This company recently announced its game-changing technology of incorporating high-capacity silicon in lithium-ion batteries.
Through in-house R&D, Altech has cracked the ‘silicon code’ and successfully achieved a 30% higher energy battery with improved cyclability or battery life. Higher density batteries result in smaller, lighter batteries and substantially less greenhouse gases, and is the future for the EV market.