CAM-EV - Development of new processes to recover critical metals from multi-chemistry, end-of-life EV batteries and convert them into tailored cathode-active materials

The global electric vehicle (EV) revolution could create more than 11 million tons of battery waste annually by 2030, enough to fill Wembley Stadium almost 20 times every year. Fortunately, this mountain of battery waste can be avoided by taking a circular economy approach.

Furthermore, in 2022, for the first time in a decade, prices of EV batteries have started to increase sharply due to increased demand for scarce critical cathode metals. Their manufacture is both strategically important and geopolitically sensitive. With China dominating the value chain and Russia a leading source of nickel and cobalt, the security of an EV battery supply chain has become a priority for governments around the world.

In January 2022, UK BEIS established the Critical Minerals Expert Committee; in July, they produced a policy paper that confirmed a key objective as being "accelerating a circular economy of critical minerals in the UK, increasing recovery, reuse, and recycling rates and resource efficiency, to alleviate pressure on primary supply".

In addition, researchers alongside battery EV manufacturers have started to switch their focus to battery chemistries that are less reliant on scare materials. Examples include Tesla with lithium ferrophosphate (LFP) batteries, which are still reliant on lithium, and CATL with (Sodium) Na-ion batteries, which, due to inferior energy density, currently would still need to be combined with Li-ion to power an electric vehicle.

Therefore, handling battery diversification is going to be key in the EV battery industry up until 2050 and recycling methods would need to be compatible and efficient with mixed streams of battery waste.

**CAM-EV - Development of new processes to recover critical metals from multi-chemistry, end-of-life EV batteries and convert them into tailored cathode-active materials (CAM).**

This 24-month collaborative R&D programme between Altilium Metals and Imperial College London's Department of Chemical Engineering, is focussed on optimising Altilium's novel hydrometallurgical method to process black mass containing multiple end-of-life battery chemistries (i.e. NMC+NCA+LCO+LFP) to recover the critical metals and, from which, ensure the consistent production of a high-quality, tailored cathode-active material (CAM).

Imperial will test and qualify the CAM material in silo, before using it to manufacture cathodes in battery cells for further performance qualification. Furthermore, the consortium will perform a technical and commercial viability assessment regarding the processing of next-generation sodium ion batteries.