We are pleased to announce that Valtria and Sunlight will be collaborating on a new power battery manufacturing plant in Greece. Valtria has been awarded the contract for the design and installation of a combined cleanroom and dry room solution, together with the HVAC system, for the new lithium-ion battery pilot line located in Xanthi.
Valtria will establish an integrated project organisation dedicated to the engineering and execution of the works required to build the cleanroom and dry room facilities, as well as the HVAC system for the entire pilot line building.
Rising Battery Demand Calls for Change
The growing demand for lithium-ion batteries is driving an increasing need for reliable dry room technology. A consistently controlled environment is therefore a key requirement for maintaining the dry climatic conditions required in battery manufacturing facilities.
Larger manufacturing plants are attracting considerable interest as they benefit from economies of scale, increasing both production volumes and capacity as the industry moves towards gigafactories.
A key stage in the manufacturing process takes place inside a specially conditioned dry room, which has significant energy requirements due to the need to control both temperature and humidity across a large volume of process air. This is essential because pure lithium metal is highly sensitive to moisture, meaning that any exposure to humidity can reduce the performance capacity and service life of lithium-ion batteries.
Even limited exposure to moisture can also create serious safety issues, including a potential risk of explosion. An anhydrous dry room is therefore an important part of the infrastructure required for lithium-ion battery development and manufacturing, whether for R&D, laboratory-scale applications or large-scale production.
Within this controlled atmosphere, battery cells are filled with lithium hexafluorophosphate electrolyte and sealed in a continuously dehumidified environment where moisture concentrations remain below 100 parts per million by volume under all operating conditions.
The dry room system creates a slight positive pressure to prevent outside air from entering, for example when a door is opened. The positioning of ventilation and dehumidification equipment must also be carefully assessed and depends on several key parameters, including the presence of personnel working inside the room.
Other key parameters in dry room design include the volume of the room, the permitted moisture concentration, the amount of moisture released by materials entering the room, and the heat generated by potential electrical loads from the specific equipment installed within the space.
Valtria specialises in this type of integrated service, covering the design, configuration and installation of dry room systems for battery cell production. We can also integrate dry room systems into existing facilities when the customer is not planning a new-build project for the battery cell manufacturing process.
This contract award represents an important milestone for Valtria. Battery technology is a strategic part of Europe’s clean and digital transition, and this project provides us with a strong platform for continued growth while further strengthening our expertise in a key enabling technology that is essential to the competitiveness of the automotive industry.