Research Facilities
CELEST Labs – Advancing Green Energy Research
Concrete contributions to shaping the energy transition require opportunities to test and develop these solutions. Furthermore, the issues involved call for teamwork that requires collaboration among various disciplines and different stakeholders along the entire value chain. On the CELEST platform, the CELEST Labs provide such opportunities for various stages of energy storage research in order to accelerate green energy research: on the one hand, the CELEST Green Energy Lab in Ulm, and on the other, the CELEST Circular Economy Recycling Lab in Karlsruhe.
CELEST Green Energy Lab Ulm
The CELEST Green Energy Lab Ulm was founded in July 2025 as the first shared facility at Ulm University. It enables scientific work in the field of energy conversion and storage. As a central operating facility and part of Ulm University‘s research infrastructure, it serves in particular to strengthen basic research in these fields at the Ulm site. The CELEST Green Energy Lab Ulm is the result of many years of cooperation between the Ulm University, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), particularly within the framework of the Helmholtz Institute Ulm Electrochemical energy storage (HIU) and the Cluster of Excellence POLiS (Post-Lithium-Storage), and the CELEST research platform.
The development of the laboratory and equipment infrastructure has been made possible in recent years by joint investments from Ulm University and KIT, as well as funding from the state of Baden-Württemberg. In addition to working groups from the Ulm University and KIT, the shared facility is also open to external cooperation partners from science and industry, provided that their projects are thematically related to its research programme.
CELEST CERL: Circular Economy Recycling Lab
At the CELEST site KIT, the state of Baden-Württemberg is providing €1.38 million in EU funding to create a research infrastructure for the development of sustainable recycling strategies for used batteries, CELEST CERL: Circular Economy Recycling Lab. CERL thus provides the environment for the development of novel processes in the field of recycling. The aim is to develop innovative recycling processes for lithium and post-lithium systems so that materials at the end of their life-cycle can be efficiently recovered and reused in batteries.
The focus is on a process for targeted mechanochemical recycling treatment and a halometallurgy named process for recovering valuable raw materials at moderate temperatures. Both processes work in conjunction with highly specialized analysis equipment that enables quality control immediately after processing. The knowledge gained will also be used to research “design for circularity” approaches—i.e., battery concepts that are designed for recyclability from the outset. Collaboration with external partners from science and industry is possible and encouraged at CELEST CERL.
