Arkema accelerates its investments in batteries

The company states in a press release that it will increase in its Kynar PVDF fluoropolymer production capacities by 50% at its Pierre-Bénite site in order to address the fast-growing demand for materials for lithium-ion batteries. Arkema now aims to reach sales of at least one billion euros from batteries by 2030. This Center of Excellence dedicated to batteries and is equipped with design- and analysis equipment, including a dry room and an electrode coating line. With this Center of Excellence, the company aims to accelerate the development of advanced materials and processes for future generations of more efficient, safer and more compact batteries. The centre was partly financed by the Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Alongside this platform, a pilot line dedicated to the pre-industrialisation of the next generations of electrolytes for the batteries of the future has been set up and is already operational, the company states. This new Center, named the Christian Collette Center of Excellence for Batteries, in honor of the Group's R&D Vice President who passed away last April. To support the exponential growth in demand for lithium-ion battery cell materials in Europe, Arkema also announced a 50% expansion of its Kynar fluoropolymer production capacity at its Pierre-Bénite site. These polymers are used as separator coatings or as cathode binders. This new extension should come on stream in the first quarter of 2023.