Glencore, Britishvolt to build battery recycling ecosystem in UK

UK battery developer Britishvolt and strategic partner Glencore have formed a joint venture to build a battery recycling ecosystem in the UK, Britishvolt announced in a Feb. 3 statement.

The ecosystem will start with a new recycling plant at Glencore's Britannia Refined Metals operation in Northfleet, which is expected to have a processing capacity of at least 10,000 mt/year of lithium-ion batteries and be operational by mid-2023.

The plant is aimed to be 100% powered by renewable energy in the longer term.

The recycling facility will be the venture's first in the UK and will process battery manufacturing scrap, portable electronics batteries and full electric vehicle battery packs, among others.

The main aim of the ecosystem is to help support the creation of a genuinely circular economy that supplies recycled materials and minerals back into the battery supply chain, Britishvolt said, adding that the facility would process all battery manufacturing scrap from the battery maker's gigafactory in Blyth, Northumberland.

The joint venture will also look to develop other recycling activities, such as black mass refining into battery grade raw materials, Britishvolt said.

The partnership also aims to research how to make the recycling of EV batteries easier and more cost effective, maximizing their supply chain value and influencing legislation, including increasing regulation of recycling and ESG requirements, it added.

Recycling cathode active materials

Recycling scrap from UK gigafactories could generate up to 20,000 mt of cathode active materials, or CAMs, to be reused, which was enough to make 7 GWh of new batteries, equivalent to 100,000 EVs, according to the Advanced Propulsion Centre Technology Trends team.

The team estimated that 28,000 mt of reusable battery waste would be created when including end-of-life vehicle retirements and potential warranty recalls.

It forecast that recycled battery waste from end-of-life vehicles could supply enough CAMs by 2040 to produce 60 GWh of new batteries.

The APC pointed out that the EU Battery Regulation proposed that all new batteries must contain 4% nickel, 12% cobalt and 4% lithium by weight from recycled materials from 2030 and higher limits due from 2035.

"To close the circular economy loop, local CAM manufacturing is key. It would further help to make the UK automotive and battery industry sustainable both from an environmental and economical perspective," APC said.

Sustainable battery value chain

"Recycling is key to a successful energy transition and has always been a major part of Britishvolt business model," Brtishvolt COO Timon Orlob said.

"This JV will help us both to create a truly sustainable battery value chain, create jobs and develop new battery recycling technologies," he added.

Both companies were united in their ambition to further the energy and mobility transition, Glencore head cobalt trader David Brocas said, adding that Glencore had decades of recycling experience across e-waste, copper scrap and batteries.

"We believe the opportunity to utilize BRM's operations as a cutting-edge battery recycling facility will help support the development of a UK battery recycling industry. It will also play a part in furthering the UK's climate ambitions as well as Glencore's as we work towards net zero total emissions by 2050," Brocas said.

In August, Glencore and Britishvolt signed a strategic agreement for the long-term supply of cobalt and the former also invested an undisclosed amount for a stake in the battery maker.

Glencore is one of the largest producers of cobalt, with production up 14% year on year in 2021 at 31,300 mt from its ongoing operations at its Kamoto Copper Company in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Katanga province and the nearby Mutanda copper-cobalt mine, where it restarted limited capacity in 2021.

Britishvolt is building the 30 GWh gigafactory in phases, which will manufacture enough battery cells a year for over 300,000 electric vehicle battery packs, equivalent to around 25% of current UK vehicle manufacturing.

It also has plans to construct a second gigafactory in Quebec, Canada, with a capacity of 60 GWh.

So far in 2022, it has received around GBP100 million in funding from the UK government, as well as GBP1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) from private investors Tritax and abrdn for the construction of its gigafactory.

It also signed a two-year agreement with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre to jointly develop and manufacture high energy, high nickel lithium-ion battery cells to allow EVs to achieve better performance and range.