The present thesis was carried out within the FFG-funded BAT-SAFE research project in which the Chair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management and the Chair of Thermal Processing Technology of the Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering are working on the risks and impacts of batteries in waste management systems. The study deals with the construction of a testing device to assess the thermal behavior of different bulk materials when simulating the thermal runaway of lithium-based batteries. With the testing device, precise information about introduced volume of air and temperatures both at the surface and at specified measurement points within the device can be collected during each recording interval. Various bulk materials (Vermiculite, Pyrobubbles®, expanded clay, Seramis® clay granules and the oil binding agent Sorbix) were tested with regards to their thermal behavior and suitability to fulfill the requirements defined within the research project. For all materials, one experiment at a pressure of 2, 3 and 4 bar respectively was performed, with the exception of Vermiculite that was tested various times at each pressure level. The performance of all materials met the requirements at a pressure of 2 bar. At a pressure of 3 bar, the clay granules already showed thermal degradation; also the measured temperature increased rapidly after 280 seconds when using the oil binding agent. The material Vermiculite failed when applying a pressure of 4 bar, only Pyrobubbles® and the expanded clay showed still stable thermal behavior. Nevertheless, since the focus of this thesis were the thermal aspects of the analyzed materials only, none of the materials can be recommended for the discussed application without considering further trials with regards to other influence factors.