The material use of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is widely discussed in public and scientific discourse. Cathodes of state-of-the-art LIBs are partially comprised of high-priced raw materials mined under alarming ecological and social circumstances. Moreover, battery manufacturers are searching for cathode chemistries that represent a trade-off between low costs and an acceptable material criticality of the comprised elements while fulfilling the performance requirements for the respective application of the LIB. This article provides an assessment of the substitutability of common LIB cathode chemistries (NMC 111, −532, −622, −811, NCA 3%, −9%, LMO, LFP, and LCO) for five major fields of application (traction batteries, stationary energy storage systems, consumer electronics, power-/garden tools, and domestic appliances). Therefore, we provide a tailored methodology for evaluating the substitutability of products or components and critically reflect on the results. Outcomes show that LFP is the preferable cathode chemistry while LCO obtains the worst rating for all fields of application under the assumptions made (as well as the weighting of the considered categories derived from an expert survey). The ranking based on the substitutability score of the other cathode chemistries varies per field of application. NMC 532, −811, −111, and LMO are named recommendable types of cathodes.

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A sustainable design of production systems, both within and beyond company boundaries, is essential for the future viability of the process industry. In this context, the concept of ultra‐efficiency has recently been developed, aiming at achieving holistic improvements in the fields of action energy and material efficiency, emission reduction, organization, human and staff, with the goal of establishing a positive impact factory. In this paper, the concept developed mainly for the discrete manufacturing industry is transferred to the process industry. It is put into the scientific sub context and elementary approaches, methods and strategies for factory planning and design of production processes in the process industry are summarized.