UK battery recycling firm Altilium has agreed to supply Australia-based battery anode and advanced materials company Talga with graphite for use in EV battery products.

Under the agreement, Altilium proposes to supply Talga with up to 16,000 tonnes of recycled graphite over three years starting in 2026.

Talga is building a natural graphite anode refinery in Sweden and is developing a recycled graphite anode product in response to increasing demand. Over 90% of the world’s graphite is refined in China, which imposed restrictions on graphite exports in 2023. This has increased the need for recycling methods to secure supplies of high-quality graphite outside China for lithium-ion battery production.

Altilium’s EcoAnode process can now recover 99% of the graphite from end-of-life EV batteries, up from 95% previously. Initial tests have shown that this recycled graphite matches the purity and physical characteristics of primary sources.

Altilium’s planned battery recycling in Teesside will have capacity to recover 20,000 tonnes of graphite annually, meeting over 20% of UK demand by 2030. Talga’s planned Luleå refinery will produce 19,500 tonnes of battery anode material per year, equivalent to 16 GWh of battery capacity, or approximately 270,000 electric vehicles per year.

Source: Altilium