Recyclus and WMG partner on battery research and development

United Kingdom-based Technology Minerals (TM), a mineral exploration company, has announced that its TM-owned Recyclus Group has partnered with WMG, an academic department at the University of Warwick in Coventry, England. The partnership aims to find new ways to innovate the lithium-ion battery recycling industry.

WMG and Recyclus have created an engineering doctorate focused on battery recycling technologies and transferring current and future applications. The doctorate encompasses a four-year program supporting individuals at varying career stages to address contemporary industrial and technical challenges across the battery recycling sector. 

Recyclus says it has developed the first industrial-scale process that can work across all lithium-ion battery technologies. Recyclus and WMG will be sharing this technology through the research programs at WMG, working across a range of development areas.

“In our September 2020 report, WMG highlighted that by 2040, U.K. automotive lithium-ion battery cell production alone will require 131,000 metric tons of cathodic metals,” says David Greenwood, WMG director for industrial engagement. “With the right infrastructure, recycling can supply 22 percent of this demand. This represents not only a positive environmental impact, but large savings for manufacturers that build the business case for increased battery recycling capabilities in the U.K.” 

According to an article published in the British scientific journal Nature, the increased demand between 2020 and 2050 for electric vehicles will require an expansion of lithium, cobalt and nickel supply chains and additional resource discovery. Recyclus says recycling of battery materials could play a role in reducing the supply pressures.  

“There is a clear demand building as a result of the shift to transportation electrification,” says Alex Stanbury, CEO of Technology Materials. “That now extends to key U.K. sectors, including energy storage, freight and aerospace. Working with WMG, we will remain at the forefront of our sector, focused on extracting raw materials required for lithium-ion batteries, whilst solving the ecological issue of spent batteries, by recycling them for reuse by battery manufacturers.”