UK and US firms have partnered to improve the sustainability of lithium-ion battery manufacturing by using direct cathode recycling methods.
UK firm Johnson Matthey and the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) will partner with US firm OnTo Technology on the project involving direct recycling of lithium-ion battery production scrap.
Johnson Matthey has entered into an agreement to scale up OnTo Technology patented process for the direct recycling of lithium-ion battery scrap in collaboration with UKBIC.
Part funding for the feasibility stage of the project is from the UK Government’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) in partnership with Innovate UK.
OnTo’s patented Cathode Healing process restores the coating material to be used in making new batteries.
Matthew Dobson, UKBIC’s principal engineer, said: “The recycling of batteries is an important part of developing a sustainable UK value chain and aligns with our objective of enabling a route to Net Zero.”