Met4Tech was a collaborative project between the Universities of Leicester, Exeter, Birmingham and Manchester, and the British Geological Survey. The collaboration worked on improving and assuring the supply of raw materials, devising ways to manufacture goods to be re-used and recycled, and the recycling of complex goods such as batteries.

The Circular Economy Centre proposed a revolutionary alternative to the traditional linear 'use and dispose' approach. The project aimed to result in maintenance of a continuous flow of resources at their highest value for the longest time period and then recover, cascade and regenerate products and materials at the end of each life cycle. The CSMP Team were focusing on the development of novel separation and recycling techniques for technology metals.

It is hoped that the Met4Tech Centre will ultimately create a roadmap for an alternative technology metals circular economy system, including details of technology forecasts, strategic business models, new raw materials practices, and regulatory and governance requirements.

Funded by UKRI.

The demand for Technology Critical Metals (TCMs) is growing and they are fundamental enablers of most major applications throughout industry and especially in clean energy and digital technologies; they are essential for the world to decarbonise. As the UK is currently 100% import-reliant on TCMs, it is essential to recycle these metals and develop a circular economy. However, such metals are diffusely distributed and maintaining value is difficult with current non-selective hydrometallurgical techniques. This 3-year project will carry out research into the use of targeted, catalytic etchants which can control the redox state of TCMs from complex architectures. Targeting layered structures, particularly those of significant value to industries such as aerospace or wind renewables, the team will aim to combine catalytic etchants with ultrasonic techniques to bring about almost instantaneous separation and enable selective, fast-throughput processes to be developed. Therefore, the SonoCat project aims to develop a range of sustainable, inexpensive catalysts which can preferably be regenerated using air emulating what is done in a biological and geological environment.

Funded by EPSRC

REBLEND aims to further develop three processes to directly recover valuable cathode active materials (CAM) from production scrap and end of life automotive and consumer batteries for reuse in automotive batteries, building the basis for a UK-based automotive battery recycling industry. The project is led by Ecoshred, with University of Leicester, University of Birmingham, Minviro, Iconichem Widnes, Watercycle Technologies, Ecolamp Recycling, and Cornish Lithium. The project combines novel delamination, magnetic, electrostatic and membrane separation techniques, developed as part of the Faraday Institution’s ReLiB project. REBLEND has the aim to produce separated and >89% pure anodic and >94% pure cathodic black mass from shredded end of life batteries enabling battery-grade CAM recovery for £6/kg.

Funded through the Faraday Battery Challenge