Altilium, a UK-based battery material and recycling company, has made progress in developing cathode active material (CAM) recovered from used electric vehicle (EV) batteries. Recent tests at Altilium’s ACT1 facility in Devon have shown that the recycled CAM performs similarly to commercially available materials used in high-performance EV batteries.
The electrochemical testing of cells made with Altilium’s recycled CAM indicated comparable charge rates and cycle performance to commercial CAM, specifically for high nickel NMC 811 batteries. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis further confirmed that the structure of Altilium’s recycled material is similar to that of commercial variants.
Christian Marston, Altilium’s co-founder and COO, noted, “These results show that recycled battery metals can perform as well as virgin metals, demonstrating that critical minerals can be sourced from both mines and old EV batteries.” He emphasized that their recycled CAM matches or even exceeds the performance of traditional materials while offering the environmental benefit of recycling.
This development is seen as a step towards creating a more sustainable supply chain for EV battery materials in the UK. Altilium’s EcoCathode process is designed to recover more than 95% of critical metals, such as lithium, from used batteries and convert them into advanced battery materials.
Altilium is working with the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) to produce battery cells using its recycled CAM, with plans to validate these cells with an automotive manufacturer. Additionally, Altilium’s planned facility in Teesside will process 150,000 EV batteries annually, supplying CAM to support the growth of the UK’s Gigafactory sector.
