Fraunhofer Researchers Pioneer Sustainable Batteries Using Wood Industry Waste
- MM24 News Desk
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Fraunhofer Institute scientists are turning lignin, a major by-product of the wood and paper industry, into the core of a new sodium-ion battery. This innovation promises a cheaper, safer, and more sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries, leveraging a material that is usually burned for energy, according to a Fraunhofer project report.
As the world scrambles for energy storage solutions to power the green transition, the search is on for batteries that don't rely on scarce, expensive, or conflict-ridden materials. The answer, it turns out, might be found in trees—or more precisely, in the lignin that gives wood its rigid structure. A research team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS and Friedrich Schiller University Jena is leading the charge in the ThüNaBsE project, developing a sodium-ion battery that uses lignin-derived carbon for its negative electrode.
Why shift from the dominant lithium-ion technology? “We want to avoid critical metals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel in the battery value chain,” explains Lukas Medenbach, a research scientist at Fraunhofer IKTS. The project also aims to reduce or even eliminate fluorine from components. This focus on abundant, non-toxic materials could dramatically lower both the environmental footprint and the cost of future energy storage.
So, how does a tree by-product become a high-tech battery component? The process begins with lignin supplied by project partner Mercer Rosenthal GmbH. This biopolymer is thermally converted under inert conditions into a specific type of carbon known as hard carbon. “The structure of this hard carbon is very suitable for the reversible storage of sodium ions,” notes Cornelius Dirksen, a colleague of Medenbach at Fraunhofer IKTS. He adds that this material boasts “high electrochemical performance, good cycle stability and low acquisition costs,” especially when sourced sustainably. For the positive electrode, the team is using Prussian Blue analogs, inexpensive and non-toxic iron compounds with a history as a pigment and a natural ability to store sodium ions.
The real-world performance of this bio-based concept is already being put to the test. The first small demonstrator cells are being built and evaluated in laboratories, and the initial results are highly encouraging. The team has a clear target, stated by Medenbach: “The aim is to demonstrate 200 charging and discharging cycles for the 1-Ah full cell by the end of the project.” This durability is a critical milestone for proving the technology's commercial viability.
The potential applications for these lignin-based batteries are ideally suited to their profile. They are not designed for high-speed electric vehicles but for use cases where cost, safety, and sustainability trump ultra-fast charging. This includes stationary energy storage for homes or grids, as well as mobile applications like microcars and warehouse logistics vehicles such as forklifts. Once the project concludes, the consortium plans to scale the technology, moving it closer to market readiness and offering a genuinely green alternative for our energy storage needs, reported the Fraunhofer project team.
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