Lithium and Graphite Recovery from Lithium-Ion Batteries (LaGReLiB)

This project will deliver technology capable of the full recycling of lithium-ion batteries; currently this is unavailable due to lithium and graphite losses. The successful project will put the UK at the forefront of lithium-ion battery recycling. The current estimated usage of lithium-ion batteries for the automotive industry is 21 million by 2030 globally, including up to 2 million in the UK; IMF predicts 90% electric vehicles by 2042 (higher than current Department of Transport predictions). The UK has no lithium-ion battery recycling facilities, with batteries exported to Europe at great cost in terms of miles traveled (fuel, carbon emissions, time), jobs and special transport requirements (lithium batteries are classified under UN category 9 as dangerous goods); also with question marks on the usability of European facilities post Brexit. Successful implementation of the project will decrease greenhouse gas emissions and create jobs in the UK recycling sector. The plant will be designed to be flexible for future battery developments, not only lithium-ion but others, enabling the continued evolution of recycling technology. The built-in flexibility of the pilot plant could be exploited to optimise other hydrometallurgy processes, (e.g. primary extraction, WEEE recycling, materials recovery from legacy sites, Zinc recovery from steelmaking sludge). The Materials Processing Institute is ideally placed to hold this facility due to it open access research provisions. With no known hydrometallurgy pilot plant within the UK this will be showcase development in hydrometallurgy, creating a UK wide facility that provides return on investment for many years after the project has been completed. This project will be joined by Inprotec Ltd and Cornish Lithium Ltd. Inprotec will help the integration into the pyrometallurgy routes of the remaining materials, helping with pilot plant specification and technology development, trials melts will be carried out to confirm the full recycling process route. Cornish Lithium will collaborate over hydrometallurgy techniques, pilot plant specification and scale up studies on the pilot plant; the knowledge gained from the pilot plant studies is expected to help expedite commercial production of lithium from UK primary sources via environmentally responsible production techniques. By applying these innovations to lithium-ion battery recycling and lithium primary extraction, the UK will develop both recycling and primary extraction industries, securing lithium supplies for the automotive sector and their jobs, as well as modernising the UK recycling industry creating jobs and accelerate the growth in the UK lithium extraction industry and the associated jobs.