PLYMOUTH, England, May 10, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Altilium, a UK-based clean technology group focused
on supporting the transition to net zero, has today announced
details of the latest advances in its innovative EcoCathode™
hydrometallurgical recycling technology, with breakthroughs in the
recovery of lithium from new battery chemistries and the production
of advanced cathode active materials (CAM).
Altilium is the only company in the UK recycling and upcycling
old EV batteries to high nickel p-CAM and CAM for direct reuse in
the manufacturing of new EV batteries. Combining green chemistry
with advanced materials science, the company is building a
domestic, sustainable source of battery raw materials, reducing
reliance on imported materials from China and helping to decarbonise the UK
transport sector.
Leveraging its proprietary EcoCathode™ process, Altilium has
successfully processed LFP batteries, recovering over 97% of the
lithium, marking an important step towards sustainable battery
recycling. Recovering lithium at high efficiency is a significant
breakthrough, as it improves the economics of recycling LFP
batteries, which are expected to make up over 40% of the global
market by 2030.
Altilium has also delivered the latest generation of its
recycled CAM, recovered from old NMC111 battery chemistries and
production scrap, for testing at Imperial College London. This
marks the first time that Altilium has produced an advanced NMC 622
high nickel chemistry from a mixed stream of lithium scrap.
Using the EcoCathode™ process, Altilium's latest generation CAM
has the potential to extend the lifespan of these batteries, while
also reducing the carbon emissions by 60% and costs by 20% compared
to virgin raw materials, contributing to the creation of more
efficient and environmentally friendly EVs.
The material has been sent to Imperial College London for
electrochemical performance testing and chemical analysis as part
of a collaborative R&D project with a leading automotive OEM.
The research on LFP batteries is also being carried out in
partnership with Imperial and supported by the Faraday Battery
Challenge.
Altilium has now demonstrated its ability to recycle both LFP
and NMC batteries, which will be critical to developing an
economically viable circular economy for battery materials in the
UK. As lower cost LFP batteries become more widespread, battery
recycling businesses will need to find ways to process these new
battery chemistries, which have traditionally been less attractive
to recyclers.
Altilium's first mega-scale recycling facility, located in
Teesside, will process battery waste from 150,000 EVs a year and
has been designed to handle a mixed feed of battery chemistries,
including LFP.
Altlium COO Dr Christian Marston
commented: "At Altilium we are committed to developing innovative
new technologies as we look to build a domestic supply chain for
the lowest carbon battery materials. By optimising our technology
we are resolving some of the economic challenges around recycling
LFP batteries and delivering high quality CAM for qualification
with automotive partners."
NMC batteries, which contain lithium, nickel, manganese and
cobalt, are currently the dominant chemistry in the UK. However,
LFP batteries, which use lithium iron phosphate as the cathode
material, are becoming increasingly popular with automotive OEMs
and battery manufacturers, as they look to reduce their reliance on
scarce materials, such as nickel and cobalt.
The shift to LFP batteries presents a challenge for battery
recyclers, as the iron and phosphate are less valuable than nickel
and cobalt, which makes the economics more challenging. As a
result, LFP batteries are currently less likely to be recycled. One
way to address this is by recycling more of the lithium, which is a
high-value material and can be reused in the production of new
CAM.
High-efficiency recovery of lithium also aligns with new EU
Battery regulations, which set a target for minimum recycled
efficiency of 80%.
Altilium is also able to recycle the graphite, for reuse in the
production of new anodes, which further improves the economics.
While the iron and phosphate are less valuable, they can still be
recovered for reuse in other industries.
By recycling to CAM, Altlium will offer a closed loop solution
to OEMs and cell manufacturers, with EV battery collection from the
final holder, processing of waste batteries and chemical refining
to battery-ready materials.
According to the Advanced Propulsion Centre, UK battery demand
is forecast to reach 91 GWh per year by 2030, to support the
production of 1.2 million EVs a year. In order to meet this demand,
the UK will require 163KT of CAM per year.
Altilium's Teesside recycling plant will produce 30,000 tonnes
of CAM a year – enough to meet nearly 20% of forecast demand in the
UK by 2030.
About Altilium
Altilium is a UK-based clean tech group that will reshape the UK
and European automotive supply chain by offering high volume, low
carbon domestic sources of cathode and anode materials from
recycling waste streams already in circulation, such as lithium
scrap.
The company's proprietary "EcoCathode" process converts
end-of-life EV batteries and manufacturing scrap into domestic,
sustainable, battery precursors, cathode active materials (CAM) and
cathode precursor (pCAM) for direct reuse in new batteries.
Altilium's first mini-commercial plant is currently under
construction in Plymouth while its
planned Teesside plant will be one of the largest EV battery
recycling facilities in Europe.
The plant will have the capacity to process scrap from over
150,000 EVs per year, producing 30,000
MT of CAM, enough to meet around 20% of the UK's expected
needs by 2030.
The company is backed by SQM Lithium Ventures, the corporate
venture arm of the lithium business of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de
Chile (SQM).
For more information go to www.altilium.tech
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