INTERVIEW: Altilium highlights UK's promising EV battery recycling opportunity

The UK must expedite the development of effective battery recycling solutions to manage the anticipated influx of end-of-life electric vehicle batteries, according to Christian Marston, president, cofounder and chief operating officer of UK technology group Altilium.

In an interview with Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, Marston highlighted the UK's significant EV adoption rate, with approximately 1.6 million electric vehicles currently on the road, creating a promising market for battery recycling and critical minerals recovery. "Every EV battery on the road in the UK is almost a strategic asset, featuring high concentrations of critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt," he noted.

As batteries reach the end of their life cycle, production offcuts or used batteries can be collected, dismantled, and shredded to produce a substance known as black mass. This black mass can then be processed to extract essential metals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. The recycling of black mass is increasingly vital as a supplement to virgin material supply and for reducing the carbon footprint of the battery supply chain.

According to the UK Government's Advanced Propulsion Centre, more than 230,000 metric tons of black mass will be generated in the UK by 2040. Despite this potential resource, the UK currently lacks industrial-scale recyclers capable of producing reusable battery materials.

To address this gap, Altilium has taken significant steps to enhance recycling capacity. The company officially opened its ACT 2 electric vehicle battery recycling facility in Plymouth on Oct. 10. This facility, along with the existing ACT 1 pilot plant, focuses on recycling nickel-manganese-cobalt batteries sourced from two major UK-based automotive manufacturers and gigafactory production scrap. The goal is to produce high-nickel cathode active materials.

Looking ahead, Altilium plans to construct the ACT 3 commercial-scale facility and the ACT 4 mega-scale recycling plant, designed to process scrap from over 150,000 EVs annually. The company aims to produce 30,000 mt of cathode active materials by 2030, meeting approximately 20% of the UK's projected needs, which are expected to exceed 150,000 mt annually by 2035 to support the production of around 1.2 million EVs.

Altilium investors include Japan's Marubeni Corp., Mizuho Bank, and the Japan Organization for Metals & Energy Security. The company has also garnered support through various UK government innovation awards, including grants from the Faraday Institution's Battery Challenge and the Automotive Transformation Fund.

Building a battery recycling network

Last year, Altilium launched Recell.store, an online platform providing UK businesses with a safe and efficient solution for disposing of and recycling spent EV batteries. Marston explained that the platform was developed to gauge the size and distribution of the UK's discarded EV battery volumes.

"We've been quite surprised at the number of discarded batteries that are already sitting in storage or being built up at scrap yards," he said, emphasizing that this initiative is part of Altilium's broader goal to establish a domestic supply chain for critical minerals.

"Part of the challenge of urban mining is building a network of partnerships to deliver feedstock into your refineries," he added. Marston stressed the importance of utilizing these resources to reduce the UK's dependence on foreign supplies of critical minerals, particularly given China's dominant role in the market.

Due to the strategic value of these materials, Marston suggested that regulations regarding the export of black mass will likely tighten as nations seek to retain critical minerals within their economies. Entering into force in February 2024, the EU Battery Regulation classifies black mass as hazardous waste, effectively restricting its export to non-OECD countries. The UK is expected to implement similar regulations in the future

"We believe that the regulation around black mass and discarded EV batteries is only going to increase based on their strategic value as a source of critical minerals," he concluded.

The calculated Platts Ni-Co black mass price stood at $2,856/mt ex-works Europe Oct. 23, down $9 day over day and up $89 week over week.