Development of new, innovative technologies for electric vehicle battery recycling & low carbon minerals recovery in the Tees Valley.

作为欧洲第二大电动汽车市场，以及从2030年起禁止销售新的汽油和柴油汽车，英国处于向电气化运输部门过渡的最前沿。然而，随着电动汽车电池生产所需关键原材料的需求不断增长，以及对全球供应链的担忧，迫切需要一个工业规模的电池回收产业，以帮助确保这些材料的稳定和可持续的国内供应。英国依赖于这些原材料的全球市场，这带来了许多挑战。国际供应链非常复杂，容易受到地缘政治事件的影响，而环境、社会和治理（ESG）因素也越来越受到电动汽车行业的关注。这一挑战带来了机遇——通过在英国为关键的电池矿物发展循环经济，建立一个可持续和稳定的供应链。Altilium Metals开发了一种湿法冶金工艺，用于回收EOL锂离子电池和超级工厂废料。这些有价值的材料以一种质量和形式被回收，可以以最环保和最具成本效益的方式直接用于电池制造。与现有的火法冶金工艺不同，它可以回收锂和锰。该技术及其阴极金属回收率超过95%的效率性能已经在实验规模上得到了独立验证和验证。预计到2026年，第一家商业工厂将在蒂赛德投入运营，每年处理5万吨锂离子电池黑质量（tpa）的能力，相当于每年约15万辆电动汽车或10吉瓦时/年。这些战略性废物将被加工成年产3万吨的阴极活性金属（CAM），回收后直接供应给英国电动汽车供应链。这个回收项目将通过帮助满足对支持英国电动汽车生产所需的关键金属的需求，增强提赛德在电动汽车供应链中的作用。通过与提赛德大学的合作，Altilium Metals将探索可生产规模、灵活的自动化电池分拣和深度放电系统的设计，用于EOL电动汽车电池的加工和“黑质量”的生产，然后在提赛德工厂进行精炼。这将使EOL电池在商业规模上进行有效分类和安全深度放电，能够以经济有效的方式处理日益增多的电池废物。

As the second largest market for EVs in Europe and with the sale of new petrol and diesel cars banned from 2030, the UK is at the forefront of the transition to an electrified transport sector.However, with growing demand for the critical raw materials required for the production of EV batteries and concerns over global supply chains, an industrial scale battery recycling industry is urgently needed in order to help secure a stable and sustainable domestic supply of these materials.The UK is dependent on the global market for these raw materials, which presents a number of challenges. International supply chains are complex and vulnerable to disruption from geopolitical events, while environ­mental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are also becoming a growing concern for the EV industry.With this challenge comes an opportunity---to build a sustainable and stable supply chain by developing a circular economy for critical battery minerals here in the UK.Altilium Metals has developed a hydrometallurgical process for the recycling of EOL lithium-ion batteries and gigafactory scrap. These valuable materials are recovered in a quality and format that can be directly reused in battery manufacturing in the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective way. Unlike existing pyrometallurgical processes, it can recover the lithium and manganese.The technology and its efficiency performance of over 95% recovery of cathode metals have been independently validated and proven at bench scale.A first commercial plant is expected to be operational in Teesside by 2026, with the capacity to process 50,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of lithium-ion battery black mass, equivalent to approximately 150,000 EVs per year or 10 GWh/annum. This strategic waste will be processed to make 30,000 tpa cathode active metals (CAM) to be recovered and supplied back directly into a UK EV automotive supply chain.This recycling project will enhance Teesside's role in the EV supply chain by helping to meet the demand for critical metals needed to support the UK's production of EVs.Through this partnership with the University of Teesside, Altilium Metals will explore the design of production-scaleable, flexible automated battery sorting and deep-discharge systems, to be used in the processing of EOL EV batteries and production of "black mass", prior to refining at the Teesside plant. This will enable the efficient sorting and safe deep discharge of EOL batteries on a commercial scale, capable of handling the growing volume of battery waste in a cost-effective manner.