Clean-energy technology specialist Altilium has secured more than £600,000 in funding to further its mission to create a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries.
The cash, granted by government agency Innovate UK, will help the company carry out production of lithium-ion cells from cathode active materials (CAM).
Scheduled to take place at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), the tests are designed to advance commercialisation of Altilium’s technology.
The company recently claimed a “significant” breakthrough when it recovered more than 97 per cent of the lithium from increasingly popular lithium iron phosphate charge stores using its EcoCathode process.
This hydrometallurgical recycling technology allows it to upcycle used batteries from electric vehicles into components that can be used to create new versions of the same item.
Chief operating officer Christian Marston said the company was “excited” by the collaboration with UKBIC.
“This new project will advance commercialisation of Altilium’s technology, demonstrating our EcoCathode recycling process at our new ACT 2 facility at a suitable scale to original equipment manufacturers, battery manufacturers and investors, and de-risking investment in further scale-up.”
Altilium is building its first commercial plant in Plymouth. It also plans to create one of the largest EV-battery recycling facilities in Europe on Teesside, which has been designed to process a mixed feed of chemistries.
