Solveteq is developing a sustainable and environmentally-friendly technology for recycling of lead-acid batteries (LABs), whilst significantly reducing the environmental impact of lead. Solveteq's technology will enable recycling companies worldwide to significantly reduce their operations cost and environmental footprint. The green process has the potential to transform the battery recycling industry and establish next-generation practices. Our solution replaces the most expensive, polluting and energy-intensive step in the recycling process with a low-temperature, solvent-based technology. Solveteq's vision is to significantly contribute to a safer and cleaner environment by transforming the way LABs are being recycled today. Solveteq aims to implement its technology worldwide. Our process produces lead and lead oxides, which are commodities that can be directly used in the production of new batteries. Despite the evident rise of Li-ion batteries, LABs remain the most popular power supply in the automotive industry, as they are used in both Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles and state-of-the-art Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (HEV, EV). LABs are also used in emerging applications such as grid energy storage. Therefore, use of LABs is not expected to decline in the near future. Our project aims to translate the academic research conducted at Imperial College London into a commercially-viable technology. We aim to test and implement our solution with established recycling companies followed by distribution of our technology to operators in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Informal recycling practices in LMICs are responsible for uncontrollable emissions of lead to the environment, exposing workers and local communities to lead pollution. Due to its toxicity, informal lead recycling in these regions is considered the most polluting industry in the world, with children being particularly affected by lead poisoning. The project is addressing this humanitarian, societal and economic issue. By deploying Solveteq's solution, we strive to provide access to cleaner energy while contributing to improved safety, health and wellbeing of impoverished communities. The project is supported by EcoBat Technologies, a world leader in the production of lead, lead alloys and the recycling of lead batteries. The scope of the 12-month project is to evaluate our proven lab-scale process on an intermediate-scale using a continuous-operation prototype designed to process and recycle 1kg/h of lead paste from used LABs into lead and lead oxides. This project represents a significant technology milestone towards commercialisation, and its success will allow the company to proceed to a 25kg/h for testing at partner's site, representing real-life operating conditions.

"Our vision is to create a safe, economically sustainable battery recycling supply chain in the UK allowing industrial batteries from vehicles to be recycled into base components and materials, which are subsequently reused. Ultimately, we seek to demonstrate a scalable process that will lead to the UK being the primary battery recycling hub in Europe. Our aim is to extract maximum value from battery packs at their end of life by repurposing the component materials. Not only will this result in less waste, it will also decrease the materials that need to be imported from abroad. Clearly, the automotive industry would be a primary user of this supply chain: project collaborator Nissan, one the major automotive OEMs, have a large EV fleet where vehicles approaching end of life. The objectives of the project are as follows: - * Assess the performance of end of life packs and investigate the artificial ageing of new lithium batteries. Battery packs age to different extents during their lifetimes. It is unclear if the ageing process affects the recyclability of lithium cells. By artificially aging a selection of new lithium cells to replicate different conditions of use, we can assess the impact on recycling. The methodology to artificially age new packs to accurately replicate end of life conditions is innovative. * The disassembly of lithium batteries down to base materials and components is not well understood. Furthermore, there are multiple routes for disaggregation, complicated by the number of design variations and number of chemistries available. This project seeks to establish a design- and chemistry-agnostic recycling methodology. * The incumbent cell recycling methodologies are based on cobalt recovery. However, with manufacturers striving to decrease cobalt content in order to lower the cost of batteries at point of sale, the amount of recoverable cobalt is decreasing. We seek to establish an alternative recycling methodology capable of economically recovering more than the incumbent process, which can be demonstrated at pilot scale by Project Calibre * An objective of the proposal is to reuse and upgrade the recovered materials in battery manufacture. This will be demonstrated at lab scale. The performance of the materials will be dependent on the methods of disassembly and recovery. The project seeks to feedback battery performance data to inform and optimise the disassembly and recovery processes."