The UCN Center has been achieving important milestones in its first year of operation.
Sixty-eight researchers, together with regional authorities, industry leaders and the academic community, met on Friday in Antofagasta to commemorate the first anniversary of Lithium R&D&I, the Center for Research, Development and Innovation in Lithium Batteries of the Universidad Católica del Norte (UCN), an occasion in which the achievements achieved so far were highlighted, such as advances in recycling and new materials.
The rector of the Universidad Católica del Norte, Dr. Rodrigo Alda Varas, highlighted the importance of advancing the announcements established a year ago at the launch of the Lithium R&D&i institute: “We have been able to meet the milestones in each of the strategic axes of this initiative. There has been a greater connection with the different actors in the territory, strengthening the ecosystem of innovation, science and technology. We hope that during the second semester and next year 2025 we can already have industries installed within the UCN grounds, so that research and application are much more fluid and dynamic.”.
For his part, the vice president of Service and Sustainability at SQM Litio, José Miguel Berguño, added that “This joint work is a very interesting opportunity for SQM. We are very grateful to the Universidad Católica del Norte, to its rector, to Hernán Cáceres, because they have opened the doors, and this collaborative work allows us to carry out research today, allows us to have a human team, more than 68 people who have been integrated and Above all, it allows the region to create knowledge, create technology and through that aim at regional development and, why not say it, national development.”.
The multidisciplinary team that is part of Lithium belongs to 17 academic units, of which 38% are women, 25 are undergraduate thesis students and 13 are postgraduate thesis students. All of them currently carry out research in 14 laboratories distributed in the UCN and which have an investment of approximately MM440 in equipment and infrastructure.
The day began with the exhibition of 18 scientific posters that complemented the main presentations, offering a detailed view of the ongoing projects and the results obtained to date: five published papers, 34 nominated projects, of which 9 have been awarded and represent a monetary value of MM510.
Regarding the results achieved within the first year of Lithium R&D&I, the director of the Center and dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Geological Sciences of the UCN, Dr. Hernán Cáceres, explained that several milestones have been achieved, mainly in regarding the installation within the University of both human capabilities and scientific equipment that allow batteries to be manufactured inside the laboratories. “Today we have the equipment and people capable of doing frontier research on this topic”he commented.
“This year the design of three battery laboratories is coming. Here we are going to do modeling, packaging and also testing the safety and performance of the batteries to be able to scale them to the next levels, and leave the battery cell to go to a battery pack. This brings us closer to solutions for the industry,” he added.
For the challenges required by the local and international industry, the Lithium center represents an opportunity to create agile, sustainable and efficient solutions. This was stated by the Vice President of Service and Sustainability at SQM Litio, José Miguel Berguño: “In order to develop solutions that the industry needs, we must develop human capital, knowledge and innovation and that is why we look for the best partners. The Universidad Católica del Norte has an excellent quality of professionals and research capacity. Two years ago we took on this challenge, we are building it confident that in the coming years a great institute will flourish with a lot of impact for the region and the country.”
A prominent place in the meeting was the presentation of Leire Zubizarreta, head of the Battery Materials Line at the Valencia Energy Technology Institute (ITE) in Spain, who addressed the crucial role of lithium in the transition towards a more sustainable future. and the opportunities that this represents for Chile as a leader in the production of this strategic resource.
“Chile is a very relevant country in the battery sector. As we have seen today, Lithium has other very important components such as the presence of industrial players, which means an alliance to create new opportunities in Chile in the battery sector. “We are supporting them in directing research towards companies and the market, accompanying them on this path that they are taking.”explained Zubizarreta.
This event represented a unique opportunity to highlight the role of Lithium R&D&i as a key player in the advancement of science and technology in Chile, as well as to foster collaboration and exchange of knowledge for the lithium industry and their applications.
