The UK is building its first industrial-scale facility to strip electric vehicle batteries down to their raw metals—cobalt, nickel, lithium, and graphite—and turn them back into new battery components. Currently, most lithium-ion battery recycling recovers only a fraction of valuable materials, and the UK lacks a domestic supply chain for battery-grade metals. This leaves manufacturers dependent on imported raw materials and creates waste at the end of a battery’s life. The project, called R2LIB, brings together a cobalt salt producer, a laser-tool company, Jaguar Land Rover, and researchers to close that loop. They will reclaim metals from end-of-life batteries, manufacture precursor salts, and test them in recycled cathode production. If successful, this could establish a UK-based circular supply chain for automotive batteries—reducing reliance on foreign mining, lowering the carbon footprint of battery production, and making electric vehicles more sustainable. The work directly supports the transition to a low-carbon economy by ensuring that battery materials stay in use rather than becoming waste. It is applied manufacturing research with a clear commercial endpoint.
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"With the increase in electric vehicles and the slow fade out of fossil fuelled combustion engines, there is an ever-increasing demand for energy storage devices in the automotive industry. This in turn means that there is an ever increasing requirement for critical elements such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium and graphite. In addition, at the end of life of these energy storage devices, increased value can be obtained from extracting and reusing the components and materials. To answer this critical need, responding to the business opportunity, we must develop the supply chain for battery materials reclamation and reuse. Enabling a circular economy with a more connected supply chain for the automotive battery, and ensuring a traceable supply of good quality materials for anode and cathode materials production, supports the future activity for the UK in this sector. In order to investigate the reuse aspects of cell materials and remanufacture of lithium ion batteries from the reclaimed and recycled components this project will develop the first UK industrial scale capability to reclaim and reuse battery essential metals. R2LIB will bring together ICoNiChem, the only cobalt salt producer in the UK, to manufacture transition metal precursor salts, to provide materials into the UK materials manufacturing supply chain. PV3 will investigate the use of these salts in a recycled cathode production, partnering with other parts of the equipment and materials supply chain in the UK; MSolv, (laser tools), JLR (end of life and LSA), Circa / York (green solvents), WMG (reclamation and cell remanufacture). Battery materials are at the forefront of the battery supply chain, and currently the UK manufacturing base is limited. The quality and control of these materials is essential for consistency of electrodes and inherently the good performance of a lithium ion battery. Ensuring a good quality material supply, with a good heritage, will support the move to manufacturing batteries in the UK. This project will look to demonstrate the UK's potential capability in this field, ultimately assisting to advance the UK's competitive position in battery cell technologies and production, and importantly, the transition to a low-carbon economy."
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