Powder-handling plant,
Mo i Rana, Norway

High-precision automation for cathode and anode material

Pac Technologies delivered the automation, control and digital traceability system for a new battery plant in Mo i Rana, Norway. The facility prepares high-purity cathode and anode powders for cell manufacturing.

Our scope covered the full automation stack — PLC, HMI and MES development, along with simulation, factory testing and commissioning — delivered as a fully digitalised process environment.

Industry

Battery manufacturing

Service

Hybrid commissioning

Location

Mo i Rana, Norway

Year

2023

Delivery model

2 engineers on site, remainder remote from Brisbane

Cutover window

Seven days

Two independent lines, one tight shutdown

Cathode and anode powders take separate paths through the plant but have to arrive at the slurry mixing stage in the same conditioned state — precisely thermally and mechanically prepared, with moisture content driven below 50 ppm. The customer's broader build had to land inside a fixed seven-day shutdown, with no second chances and no margin for travel-induced delay.

Sending a full commissioning crew from Brisbane to the Arctic Circle for the full duration was not realistic. The job had to be delivered hybrid — two engineers on site, the rest of the team supporting from Brisbane across the time-zone gap — and still come out of the shutdown live.

Two powder lines, one digitalised process environment

The facility processes two distinct powders — cathode and anode — through independent but harmonised production lines. Raw materials are received in sealed big-bags and transferred via inerted glove-box unloading systems into automated hoppers and conveyors. From there, each line manages precise thermal and mechanical conditioning to prepare the powder for slurry mixing.

The cathode line includes a high-capacity dryer that reduces powder moisture content to below 50 ppm, followed by a cooler that delivers the powder at a stable, transport-ready temperature. The anode line uses a combined dryer and cooler unit that alternates hot-oil and cold-oil circuits to achieve the same controlled sequence in a compact footprint. Across both lines, the automation coordinates equipment start and stop sequences, monitors process variables, and keeps handling conditions consistent.

Every batch is uniquely identified and digitally tracked. Two complementary data streams capture both high-resolution process variables and structured production records — continuous data over OPC-UA to the plant historian, and event-based batch data to the MES, timestamped with work order, recipe and material details. The result is end-to-end traceability: every produced cell can be linked back to its exact powder origin and process conditions.

Cathode line

High-capacity dryer plus cooler

Anode line

Combined dryer and cooler, alternating hot and cold oil

Material handling

Inerted glove-box unloading, automated hoppers

Data

OPC-UA to historian, event-based batch data to MES

HMI

Barcode scanning and batch verification workflows

Moisture target

Sub-50 ppm pre-slurry

Complete visibility, inside the window

The system provides complete visibility and control over critical powder-conditioning operations — product quality, safety and efficiency in one of Europe's most advanced battery facilities. Cutover happened inside the seven-day shutdown, and the hybrid delivery model proved out as a way to land overseas commissioning work without putting the whole engineering team on a plane.

• Full digital traceability from raw material intake to finished powder batches.
• High-precision drying control to achieve sub-50 ppm moisture targets.
• MES integration over structured OPC-UA communication.
• Operator-friendly HMI with barcode scanning, sampling workflows and batch verification.
• Energy-efficient process design using heat-exchange-based drying and cooling.
• Safe, clean operation with inert-gas blanketing and dust-tight handling throughout.