Business Finland grants BATCircle Eur10.8 million funding to create sustainable battery industry

Business Finland has granted the Finland-based Circular Ecosystem of Battery Metals (BATCircle) 2.0 consortium with Eur10.8 million ($13.15 million) to work towards creating a sustainable battery industry in Europe.

The funding will be used to build on the first phase of BATCircle, which was successfully completed in April 2021, Aalto University, one of the consortium members, said June 9.

BATCircle, which comprises of four universities, 15 companies, the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, was established in 2019 and acknowledges the importance of creating a European-wide battery industry that cover the entire lithium-ion battery value chain.

"European self-sufficiency in the battery sector is one of the major objectives as Europe is currently highly dependent on the supply of both raw materials and battery cells from overseas," it said.

BATCircle's overall aim is to improve the manufacturing processes of mining, metals refining and battery chemicals, as well as materials industry, and at increasing the recycling efficiency of lithium-ion batteries.

The BATCircle 2.0 project aims to add value to the Finnish battery metals and materials sector, with the consortium's objectives including strengthening the cooperation between the companies and research organizations.

"We believe that our domestic battery metals ecosystem will enable the growth of a European ecosystem that follows the principles of a circular economy and further strengthens Finland's position in the field," said Mari Lundström, principal investigator of BATCircle and associate professor at Aalto University, School of Chemical Engineering.

Besides Aalto University, the consortium also consists of University of Eastern Finland, LUT University, University of Oulu, with the companies including Boliden, Finnish Minerals Group, Fortum Waste Solutions, Metso Outotec, Norilsk Nickel, Terrafame, Umicore Finland, Beowulf's Fennoscandian Resources, among others.

National battery strategy addressed

Finland in January launched its national battery strategy, which sets out the way the country can become a key player in the international battery industry by 2025, by promoting responsible battery production and electrification.

Metso Outotec Technology Manager Tuomas van der Meer said the BATCircle ecosystem addressed the targets of the strategy and the targets set in the European battery ecosystem.

"Our aim is to accelerate Finland's sustainable and low-carbon economic growth and support the achievement of climate objectives in transport by developing skills in the field and by expanding co-operation," Van der Meer said.

The Eur10.8 million is part of Business Finland's Eur19.3 million total funding budget for three years, with BATCircle 2.0 named as a key project in Business Finland's Smart Mobility and Batteries from Finland programs.

Exploration and development company Beowulf said June 10 that its 100%-owned Finnish subsidiary Fennoscandian Resources had also received a Eur791,000 grant from Business Finland, which would fund half of the three-year budget for its Spheronization and Purification of Natural Graphite for the European Lithium-Ion Battery Market project, which was part of the BATCircle 2.0 project's work.

Ilkka Homanen, head of Business Finland's Smart Mobility and Batteries program, said close cooperation between companies and research organizations was essential to reach the BATCircle consortium's goals.

"Business Finland's role is to enable and accelerate innovations and top-level research and to support internationalization of solutions and business models," Homanen said.

The first phase of BATCircle produced promising results aimed at improving the efficiency of the refining processes and recycling of lithium-ion battery raw materials, as well as carried out extensive research to support potential battery mineral deposit exploration in Finland and studied opportunities for their more sustainable exploitation.

It has also improved the production processes of battery materials and developed the properties of battery active materials using recycled raw materials.