Customised electrolytes for modern battery storage technologies made in Münster

The field of application of batteries as energy storage devices is diverse and, depending on their use, there are different requirements that have to be met. The most important element in batteries are the electrolytes contained inside. They influence safety and service life, for example. The start-up E-Lyte develops and produces custom-fit high-performance electrolytes for a wide range of applications.

Find out more about the innovation from Münsterland on this page.

In the laboratory, the employees develop and test the electrolytes.
© E-Lyte Innovations GmbH
The liquid electrolytes are produced in the laboratory.
© E-Lyte Innovations GmbH
The E-Lyte team
© E-Lyte Innovations GmbH

E-Lyte Innovations GmbH

E-Lyte Innovations GmbH (E-Lyte) is a start-up company from Münster founded in May 2019, which emerged from the MEET Battery Research Centre at WWU Münster as part of the EXIST research transfer funding programme. In just 3.5 years, E-Lyte has developed into an internationally active company and produces innovative and high-quality electrolytes "Made in Germany".

Dr Kolja Beltrop, Co-Founder and CTO

"E-Lyte is a full-service partner in the field of development and production of customised high-performance electrolytes for electrical energy storage (e.g. lithium-ion batteries, sodium-ion batteries and supercapacitors) to enable optimal performance for a wide range of applications and energy storage technologies. E-Lyte's overall goal is to contribute to the successful transformation of the energy sector and directly drive the energy transition."

Challenge

Whether in electric cars, in medical technology or in space: energy storage in the form of batteries is used in many areas. Due to the ever more complex applications, the requirements that modern batteries have to fulfil are changing. The central component of a battery is an electrolyte, a liquid consisting of a solvent mixture, a conducting salt and so-called performance additives. Depending on where and under which conditions the battery is to be used, the electrolyte must be individually adapted. That is why the demand for customised electrolytes is high.

Solution approach

Electrolytes are tested in the laboratory
© E-Lyte Innovations GmbH

Since there is no universal electrolyte for any type of energy storage system that can meet all the requirements and performance parameters of an energy storage system at the same time, electrolyte solutions are needed that are precisely tailored to the end application. The E-Lyte team therefore develops and produces the right electrolyte solution for every energy storage system.
For this purpose, innovative and digitally supported development processes are used in an in-house test infrastructure and then produced in a production facility that was specially developed for this purpose and is unique in its flexibility and efficiency. The entire infrastructure required for this was planned and designed by E-Lyte, which then took the lead in implementing it.

Success

The office centre connected via the app can be called up in the browser.
© E-Lyte Innovations GmbH

Currently, E-Lyte produces 9 tonnes of electrolyte per year (tpa) at the Münster site in a manual, highly flexible process with a focus on batch sizes from 25 g to 20 kg. In 2021 alone, approx. 1000 different electrolyte formulations were produced. Since November 2022, E-Lyte has been able to produce electrolytes on a pilot scale (approx. 220 tonnes per year) for its customers at the site in Kaiserslautern. Furthermore, an electrolyte production facility with approx. 4000 tonnes of electrolytes per year is under construction at the Kaiserslautern site, which should be ready for operation as early as January 2024. This plant can provide electrolytes for about 7 gigawatt hours of battery capacity per year.

The founders have also found a new electrolyte component (performance additive) and applied for a patent through the WWU Münster.

Enabling Networks Innovation Stories

As a regional joint initiative, Enabling Networks Münsterland supports companies and universities in the Münsterland region in developing innovations, implementing them and finding the right partners for the project. In order to show how innovative and at the same time cooperative Münsterland already is, the project also went in search of innovative cooperation projects from the region. The results are presented on this page. The Enabling Networks Münsterland project is funded by the European Union and the NRW Ministry of Economics as part of the ERDF call "Regio.NRW".

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