Using the company’s EcoCathode process, it will be the only plant in Britain producing large volumes of battery-grade salts, precursor cathode active materials (P-CAM) and cathode active materials (CAM) from recycled EV battery waste.
The facility has the capacity to process 300kg of black mass waste per day, enabling production of high volumes of battery materials for qualification with automotive customers. This will include high-nickel NMC811 CAM for production of battery cells at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), for validation with an automotive OEM.
In a statement, Dr Christian Marston, president and COO of Altilium, said: “This is a proud moment for Altilium and a major milestone for the UK’s circular economy. ACT 2 is not only a demonstration of our technological leadership but also of our commitment to building a sustainable future. With ACT 2 starting processing, we are closer than ever to realising a domestic supply chain for EV battery materials, a critical component in achieving the UK’s industrial resilience.”
The opening of the ACT 2 facility follows the demonstration of Altilium’s proprietary technology at its ACT 1 site in Tavistock. The EcoCathode process has been independently validated and proven in a scaled-up pilot operation, recovering over 95 per cent of cathode metals from waste EV batteries, in a format that can be directly reused in battery manufacturing.
Furthermore, electrochemical testing of cells produced from Altilium’s recycled CAM has shown comparable rate and cycle performance with commercially available CAM used in high-nickel NMC 811 batteries.
Altilium’s process begins with black mass leaching, where the shredded battery waste is dissolved in acid solutions to extract metals including lithium, nickel, cobalt, and manganese. These materials are then separated and purified through solvent extraction, yielding battery-grade compounds. Finally, Altilium upcycles these recovered metals into high-nickel P-CAM, which is further synthesised into CAM.
The facility marks the next phase of Altilium’s scale-up strategy, leading to megascale recycling at its planned ACT 4 plant in Teesside.
Altilium’s ACT 4 plant will have the capacity to produce 30,000 tonnes of CAM a year, meeting 20 per cent of predicted demand by 2035. The plant will also enable automotive OEMs to comply with EU battery regulations. By 2036, new EV batteries in the EU must include 12 per cent recycled lithium, five per cent recycled nickel and 26 per cent recycled cobalt.
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