Batteries of the future comes from residual products from the forest

For many years, some researchers from Linköping University had investigated a question that many had not thought about: is it possible to manufacture energy storage without metals, from organic material? In the 2010s, it turned out that the answer was "yes", and in 2017 Ligna Energy was started.

"The concept is revolutionary," says Peter Ringstad, who has been CEO of the company since it was founded.

Waste is converted into products that can store energy

"We use residual products from other industries, such as shells from coconuts from the food industry and lignin from the pulp industry, and convert them into products to store energy.

Quite simply, a win-win, where what should have been waste is transformed into something that can help drive the green transition.”

"But it's not just the material that's new, we also have a unique production technology that allows us to produce products in large quantities and that allows us to easily scale up production.

Because even though Ligna Energy makes some batteries that look like "regular" cylindrical AA batteries, their main product looks completely different.” Peter Ringstad picks out a small transparent square in plastic, with a dark square in the middle. It looks a lot like an old slide picture, only much thinner.

Small devices make the Internet of Things work

"This is an energy storage component that is primarily intended for industry, for all the small sensors that need to be everywhere for the Internet of Things to work. These batteries are thin and rechargeable, which is convenient for the customer, and we manufacture them using printing press technology on a roll.

In this way, Ligna Energy can mass-produce batteries, and also easily scale up production when demand increases.”

"Right now, we are working closely with potential customers on various innovation projects. Our battery is unlike anything else, and so they have to adapt their products to be able to use it. Therefore, we are currently manufacturing samples for customers to be able to do proof-of-concept projects, but by the end of the year we expect to be up to a production rate of half a million a year.”

Soon it is expected to increase it to five million per year, all in the same room thanks to the fact that printing press technology is so space-efficient. But going from research projects to millions in production in under a decade is not something you do on your own. During the first years of the company's development, the company had its premises in the Printed Electronics Arena (PEA), an innovation cluster run by RISE in Norrköping. There is a close collaboration with Linköping University, and both researchers and companies can take part in advanced lab activities, other equipment and access to all of RISE's expertise, which means that start-ups get to the market faster.

Have avoided buying expensive equipment

For Ligna Energy, this has partly meant call-off agreements that have allowed them to hire RISE's experts as needed. Among other things, to be able to investigate the properties of materials, such as viscosity and conductivity. And instead of buying all the expensive equipment needed to test and develop batteries themselves, Ligna has been able to use everything available at PEA.

"PEA has made it possible for us to develop a really good production concept without having to incur excessive costs for equipment. In addition, we gained access to expertise without having to recruit and incur costs for it, and in this way we have significantly reduced the risk for the company.”

Today, Ligna Energy is so big that they have moved out of PEA, but Peter Ringstad nevertheless sees many opportunities for continued collaboration with RISE.

"Now it will be more situation-driven. We know what we need and we know what RISE can offer, and when we see that RISE is the best way for us, it is easy to start a new project together.”