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Altilium and Talga Group have formed a partnership to recover graphite from old electric vehicle (EV) batteries for reuse in the production of new battery anodes.
They said this would help to secure a sustainable domestic source of graphite for the domestic EV battery sector.
Graphite is the largest single material in lithium-ion batteries, comprising up to 50% by volume. Altilium said its proprietary recycling process could recover more than 99% of this material from end-of-life batteries.
Talga’s green anode production technology resulted in dramatically lower CO2 emissions from EV manufacture, it said.
The two companies will focus on the recovery of graphite from battery waste to produce a battery-grade product for use in new anodes.
Altilium will supply Talga with graphite recovered from battery waste at its Tavistock site and a new pilot plant in Plymouth, while its planned Teesside recycling plant will have the capacity to recover 20,000 tonnes a year of graphite, which would meet some 20% of UK demand by 2030. The plant will have the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes a year of black mass.
Talga will use its patent-pending chemical purification methods to generate high-purity stock for the production of anode active materials. It said that, so far, testing of the recycled graphite has shown a good match to primary graphite in purity and physio-chemical characteristics.
The two companies said that, until recently, graphite recycling was largely overlooked, with recyclers focused on reclaiming cathode metals from battery scrap.
But they warned a growing shortfall of graphite was expected in the next decade, meaning a shift towards self-sufficiency would become critical for the UK to meet demand.
Forecasts by the Advanced Propulsion Centre showed UK anode demand for graphite would reach 46,000 tonnes by 2027 and 95,000 tonnes by 2030, the partners said.
Altilium chief operating officer Christian Marston said of the partnership: “This breakthrough is a significant milestone in our journey towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future for EV batteries.”
Talga Group chief executive Martin Phillips said: “The need to secure a long-term, localised anode supply is crucial for the EV battery market.
"We are excited to work with Altilium in optimising the use of recycled graphite in active anode material to enable battery makers and automotive [manufacturers] to reduce their CO2 footprint, and support the industry’s end-of-life battery recycling targets.”
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