Altilium, a UK clean technology company specializing in sustainable recovery of battery materials, has been awarded £18.5 million in grant funding from the UK government’s DRIVE35 Scale-Up Fund. The funding, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK and Innovate UK, will support construction of the ACT3 recycling facility in Plymouth, Devon. This plant will be the first commercial refinery in the UK for recovering critical minerals from end-of-life electric vehicle batteries.
The ACT3 facility is designed to process 24,000 EV batteries per year, producing battery-grade intermediates including nickel mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), lithium sulfate and graphite. These recovered materials are essential inputs for next-generation EV battery production. By establishing a domestic circular supply chain, Altilium aims to reduce reliance on imported raw materials, strengthen national energy security and bolster the UK automotive sector.
Construction is scheduled to begin in summer 2026, with commissioning planned for late 2027. Once operational, ACT3 is expected to produce approximately 5,200 tonnes per annum of nickel MHP, 8,000 tonnes per annum of lithium sulfate (equivalent to 1,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent) and 5,400 tonnes per annum of graphite. These volumes will directly offset primary extraction and support onshoring of EV battery supply chains.
The project is set to create 70 high-value jobs in Plymouth, where Altilium already runs the UK’s only hydrometallurgical pilot plant for EV battery recycling. It will also lay the groundwork for Altilium’s larger ACT4 facility in Teesside, which will have capacity to process 150,000 EV batteries annually and produce 30,000 tonnes of cathode active materials per year.
Altilium’s hydrometallurgical recycling technology has been validated at pilot scale in previous projects and is capable of recovering over 95% of cathode and anode materials. An independent lifecycle assessment found that recycled materials from this process can reduce emissions by up to 74% compared to mined alternatives. The success of ACT3 is expected to attract further private investment, building on over £17 million already secured from strategic partners.
Source: Altilium Tech
