Pioneering project will deliver sustainable UK supply of critical battery minerals
Altilium, a UK-based clean technology company focused on supporting the transition to net zero, is excited to announce that construction has commenced on the country’s first at-scale EV battery recycling facility with integrated chemical refining capabilities, located in Plymouth, Devon.
The groundbreaking 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 state-of-the-art facility will have capacity to recover critical battery minerals, including lithium, nickel and graphite, from 24,000 EVs per year. Using Altilium’s proprietary EcoCathode™ 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 Hatch, a leading global engineering consultancy. 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).
By developing a circular economy for EV batteries, Altiliium is ensuring the UK has a secure and sustainable domestic supply chain for these materials, while reducing our reliance on imported resources and cutting carbon emissions.
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 incrementalapproach to scaling a vital new industry, one that ensures value stays in the country and creates long-term skilled green jobs.”
While battery recycling in the UK has to date focused primarily on shredding batteries and black mass production, Altilium is pioneering the next step: keeping valuable battery metals like lithium and nickel in the UK through advanced hydrometallurgical refining. This approach ensures local job creation and a resilient supply of battery-grade materials for the UK’s growing EV and gigafactory sectors.
This latest expansion follows significant inward investment in the company in the first quarter of 2025, including investments from leading global bank Mizuho Bank and Japanese trading and investment group Marubeni Corporation.
Altilium’s growth strategy provides a structured, risk-managed scale-up pathway to commercialisation, culminating in construction of one of the largest planned recycling facilities in Europe:
- ACT 1: Altilium’s Technology Centre in Devon is the company’s innovation hub, where its proprietary EcoCathode™ process was developed.
- ACT 2: A pilot line that processes one EV battery per day, validating the process and materials with automotive OEMs.
- ACT 3: Scale-up plant in Plymouth, now under construction, producing intermediate battery materials.
- ACT 4: A planned mega-scale refinery delivering battery metal salts, P-CAM and CAM (cathode active material) to UK gigafactories.
About Altilium
Altilium is a UK-based clean tech group that will reshape the UK and European automotive supply chain by offering high volume, low carbon domestic sources of cathode and anode materials from recycling waste streams already in circulation, such as end-of-life batteries.
The company’s proprietary EcoCathode™ process converts end-of-life EV batteries and manufacturing scrap into domestic, sustainable battery precursors, cathode active materials (CAM) and cathode precursor (pCAM) for direct reuse in new batteries.
Altilium’s ACT 2 mini-commercial plant recently commenced operations in Plymouth, while its planned ACT 4 plant will be one of the largest EV battery recycling facilities in Europe. The plant will have the capacity to process scrap from over 150,000 EVs per year, producing 30,000 MT of CAM, enough to meet around 20% of the UK’s expected needs by 2030.
The company is backed by SQM Lithium Ventures, the corporate venture arm of the lithium business of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile (SQM), and Japanese trading and investment group Marubeni Corporation.
For more information, go to www.altilium.tech
