Perth-based battery graphene anode producer Talga announced it has signed a development agreement with Aurubis, a global supplier of non-ferrous metals and one of the world’s largest copper recyclers, to develop a commercial recycled graphite anode product.
Talga, which currently sources its graphene and graphite in the north of Sweden where it produces coated anode products, said it aims to deliver a battery-ready anode material that is based entirely on recycled material.
It also intends to produce a blended anode material comprised of recycled material and its flagship product, Talnode-C, a natural graphite anode material made using renewable energy.
“This partnership aligns with our broader ambition to produce battery materials that enable the world’s most sustainable batteries,” Talga Chief Executive Officer Martin Phillips said.
Under the development agreement, which aims at product readiness by 2025, Aurubis will supply Talga with graphite concentrate from the black mass of used lithium-ion batteries and production scrap.
Graphite accounts for about 30% of lithium-ion batteries, and Aurubis has developed a lithium-first battery recycling process that it said extracts graphite in concentrate form with a purity greater than 90% carbon grade.
Aurubis has tested its lithium-first process in a pilot plant at its Hamburg site and is now building a demonstration plant. The company said tests with initial batches of the recycled material have led to “very promising results.”
Talga plans to purify the graphite concentrate and refine it into a battery-ready anode material using its patent-pending recycled graphite processing and patented anode production technologies, modified from the company’s Swedish natural graphite mine-to-anode project.
Talga said the agreement will expand its feedstock options with low-emission, recycled materials and support a closed loop battery supply chain in Europe.
Aurubis Chief Operations Officer Multimetal Recycling, Inge Hofkens, said the partnership is an important opportunity to develop a circular solution for graphite and lay the groundwork for major carbon savings.
“With recycled graphite, we are keeping crucial battery input material in the loop,” she said.
The partnership also feeds into the European Union’s (EU) policies to encourage uptake of recycled battery materials. The EU’s Battery Regulation has set a series of targets for battery makers, including overall recycling efficiency of lithium-ion batteries must be at least 70% by end of 2030.
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