A UK consortium has been awarded funding through the Battery Innovation Programme, a UK government funded program, delivered by Innovate UK and supported by the Department for Business and Trade, as part of the government’s Industrial Strategy, to develop a pioneering lithium-ion battery recycling technology that strengthens circular supply chains.
Image Credit: Watercycle Technologies Ltd
The project aims to enable more of a battery’s value to be retained within the UK economy, supporting the UK’s growing battery innovation ecosystem.
The project, known as ReCAM, brings together the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), Watercycle Technologies, Recyclus Group Ltd, and Polaron to tackle the pressing challenge of a growing volume of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and leveraging the black mass produced in the disposal and recycling process.
As electric vehicle adoption accelerates, the UK is projected to generate up to 94,000 tons of black mass annually by 2040, which contains highly valuable Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt and Manganese. However, the UK has no viable processing route to deal with black mass leaving this material to be exported overseas for processing, resulting in lost economic value, increased emissions and reliance on international supply chains.
The ReCAM project introduces a patented, short-loop refining process that converts black mass directly into high-value cathode active material (CAM) for reuse in new batteries. Unlike current technologies which break materials down into individual metals through a multi-stage chemical process, ReCAM uses a new next-generation approach that converts mass in a single streamlined step.
The process also recovers lithium efficiently and operates as a zero-waste system. Designed as a modular, on-site solution for recyclers, capable of processing 250 kg of material per hour, ReCAM enables more flexible and economically viable battery recycling in the UK.
Dr Ahmed Abdelkarim, Co-founder at Watercycle Technologies which led the funding application said: “By establishing a viable UK-based route for refining battery waste into reusable materials we can unlock significant economic value, reduce emissions associated with exports and enhance the resilience of the UK battery ecosystem.”
Robin Brundle, Executive Chairman at Recyclus Group Ltd, said: "We are delighted with this award and to be working with such gifted partners. This is a British-centric program built around UK resilience and that is something we at Recyclus are extremely proud of.”
Polaron will use its AI-based materials platform to help characterize and optimize the recycled cathode materials, linking process conditions to microstructure and performance. Polaron’s AI-driven cell design technology will dramatically accelerate the transition from materials to electrodes, and electrodes to cells.
Dr Isaac Squires, CEO and Co-founder of Polaron, said: “For recycled battery materials to be used again at scale, they need to prove they can be performant. Our role in ReCAM is to help the consortium understand how process conditions shape cathode microstructure and performance, so promising recycled materials can move closer to battery-grade use as quickly as possible.”
The initiative is funded under the UK’s wider £452 million Battery Innovation Programme, a government-backed effort supporting the transition to net zero, which is being delivered by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) on behalf of the Department for Business and Trade.