UK-based clean technology company Altilium has announced that construction has commenced on the its EV battery recycling facility with integrated chemical refining capabilities, located in Plymouth, Devon.
The ACT 3 scale-up plant will place the UK at the forefront of sustainable battery materials production and underscores Altilium’s commitment to building a national battery recycling ecosystem, supporting industrial resilience, energy security and economic growth.
The facility will have capacity to recover critical battery minerals, including lithium, nickel and graphite, from 24,000 EVs per year. Using Altilium’s proprietary EcoCathodeTM process, battery scrap will be recycled into Nickel Mixed Hydroxide Precipitate (MHP) and Lithium Sulphate — critical intermediate materials for domestic production of battery cathodes.
Construction work at the 4-acre site has already begun, with engineering design work being completed by engineering consultancy Hatch. The plant will provide important learnings around materials handling, scalability and process optimisation, as well as sustainability and environmental compliance, as part of a clear scale-up pathway for construction of Altilium’s planned ACT 4 mega-scale refinery later this decade.
Currently the UK is dependent on the international market for supply of critical battery materials, which are essential for decarbonisation and the energy transition. With growing demand from the battery production sector, the UK is expected to need up to 40% of current global lithium production and up 30% of current global graphite production by 2030, according to research by the UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre (CMIC).
Altilium’s growth strategy provides a structured, risk-managed scale-up pathway to commercialisation, and following the scaling up of the Devon facility, it plans a “mega-scale” refinery which will deliver battery metal salts, P-CAM and CAM to UK gigafactories.
Dr Christian Marston, Altilium COO, commented:
“Our ACT 3 site marks the next phase in Altilium’s mission to close the loop on battery materials here in Britain. We are proud to be building this scale-up facility here in Plymouth, which will be a cornerstone of the UK’s EV battery supply chain.
“This is about taking a strategic and incremental approach to scaling a vital new industry, one that ensures value stays in the country and creates long-term skilled green jobs.”
Image courtesy of Altilium
