Europe aims to reach climate neutrality and a circular economy by 2050. Current practices to recycle batteries are not designed for the full valorisation of the battery materials and, therefore, are not coherent with the European ambitions. To design the vertical battery recycling process compatible with the requirements of circular economy, BeyondBattRec aims at integrating emerging technological and digital tools to enhance the battery recycling rate. The project introduces innovative principles and practices at the component level and rationally integrates the developed components to recover valuable materials with a constant focus on carbon footprint according to the request in Annex II of the new EU Directive (EU) 2019/1020. To achieve its objective, BeyondBattRec puts together a multidisciplinary 13-partner consortium from 7 European member states, consisting of industries, academia, and research & technology organizations. The project targets battery recyclers, manufacturers and technology providers as the end users due to their importance in realizing the objectives of Batt4EU in transforming European battery industry to make it circular and achieve overall climate neutrality at EU level by 2050, while enhancing their global competitiveness. Thanks to innovative steps beyond state of art, BeyondBattRec will allow to comply also with other 2 Annexes of the above Directive (Annex X for management of materials subject to risk of supply for Europe and Annex XII related to minimum recovery rate for said risky and strategic metals and requesting the following recovery rate at the horizon of 2031: (a) 95 % for cobalt; (b) 95 % for Cooper; (c) 80 % for lithium;(d) 95 % for nickel. BeyondBattRec builds on the success of former initiatives and projects which have delivered technological, methodological, patents and largely Europe Dissemination under join venture and licenses. Thanks to those community assets, BeyondBattRec will convincingly and coherently leverage and advance to achieve its objectives.

The project main goal is the development of a highly cost-effective, safe, all-solid-state-battery with sodium as mobile ionic charge carrier for stationary energy storage applications. To achieve this goal, several aspects need to be considered including material innovations, sustainable electrode and cell manufacturing, improved characterisation and understanding of the electrochemical processes. SIMBA has the ambitious and realistic goal to tackle these challenges and has formulated the following objectives: (1) Safer batteries with a novel Solid-State Electrolyte (SSE) (TRL3-5), by developing a new class of single-ion conducting polymers (SIPEs) and its production method. (2) Higher energy density and more durable anodes by developing materials up to TRL5 using sustainable manufacturing methods. (3) Low-cost and higher energy cathode materials, by developing ultra-low-cost Prussian White (PW) and high energy density layered oxides (P2/O3) up to TRL5. (4) Obtaining deep understanding of fundamental mechanisms incl. degradation phenomena, taking place at the Solid-Electrolyte-Interface (SEI) and within the battery components. (5) Demonstration of a scaled-up highly efficient 12V, 1Ah battery module incl. BMS to validate the re-use of materials, recyclability, performance, LCA, and potential for further development. Jointly this will result in a sodium-based battery demonstrating the improved performance, recyclability and sustainability, for a stationary energy storage use-case, including a detailed Total Cost of Ownership analysis.

BatteReverse aims to enable the next generation of battery reverse logistics (RL). It will develop a more efficient and universal method for battery discharge and first diagnosis for a wide range of Li-ion battery types, safety packaging with a monitoring system reducing thermal runaway risk during transportation of batteries, automated dismantling and sorting of battery components based on a safe and more efficient human-robot collaboration, and a more precise and faster Remaining Useful Life assessment of battery modules for 2nd life applications based on acoustic testing and machine learning algorithms. On top of that, BatteReverse will develop a Battery Data Space with standardised labelling and battery passport functionalities to improve battery identification. We will connect the stakeholders through a community platform and analyse the entire RL process by a digital twin (DT) simulation that will optimise profitability of RL circular business models. The innovations will be integrated and demonstrated in an operational environment in two use-cases for end-of-first-life (EoFL) EV batteries - recycling and repurposing – mirrored with the DT simulation. By 2026 we expect these developments to contribute to following outcomes: increase recycling efficiency by 5%, raise share of repurposed EoFL batteries to 10%, reduce risk of severe events in reverse logistics to 1/10.000, successfully simulate two successful RL business models and to have a stakeholder’s community platform with 50+ stakeholders. These outcomes will contribute to the sovereignty of the EU in the battery sector. By further uptake of the developed results beyond the project, BatteReverse targets to avoid the use of 3.691 tonnes/year of primary critical raw materials, on top of that avoid the deployment of 100,8 MWh capacity of new batteries yearly while capturing an extra €30,24 million/year value out of EoFL batteries and avoiding 31 severe risk events/year within the EU RL battery chain by 2029.

Rhinoceros will develop, improve and demonstrate, in an industrially relevant environment, an economically and environmentally viable route for re-using, re-purposing, re-conditioning and recycling of EoL EV and stationary batteries. Rhinoceros will first develop a smart sorting and dismantling system enabling the automated classification and dismantling of LIBs and the reassembly of still working modules in new repurposed batteries for second life applications such as batteries for energy storage systems. When direct reuse and repurpose of batteries is not possible, a circular recycling route of all the materials present in LIBs (e.g., metals, graphite, fluorinated compounds and polymers, active materials) will be followed to close the materials loop. This route is based on a set of cost efficient, flexible and environmentally friendly routes targeting the pre-treatment, refining and the recovery of materials. Through product qualification by industrial end-users, Rhinoceros will demonstrate the direct production of high performances cathodic and anodic materials and other raw materials at competitive costs from battery recycling. The achievements will bring Europe to an increased independence level from foreigner manufacturers and raw materials suppliers.

SiGNE will deliver an advanced lithium-ion battery (LIB) aimed at the High Capacity Approach targeted in this work programme. Specific objectives are to (1) Develop high energy density, safe and manufacturable Lithium ion battery (2) optimise the full-cell chemistry to achieve beyond state of art performance (3) Demonstrate full-cell fast charging capability (4) Show high full-cell cycling efficiency with >80% retentive capacity (5) Demonstrate high sustainability of this new battery technology and the related cost effectiveness through circular economy considerations and 2nd life battery applications built upon demonstrator and (6) Demonstrate high cost-competitiveness, large-scale manufacturability and EV uptake readiness. SiGNE will achieve these objectives by incorporation of 30% Si as a composite where it is electrically connected to the Graphite in nanowire form. This will realise a volumetric ED of >1000 Wh/L when pre-lithiated and paired with a Ni-rich NCM cathode optimised to deliver 220 mAh/g. This will be further enabled by a specifically designed electrolyte to maximise the voltage window and enable stable SEI formation. A sustainable fibre based separator with superior safety features s in terms of thermal and mechanical stability will be developed. SiGNE will establish the viability of volume manufacturing with production quantities of battery components manufactured by project end. The battery design and production process will be optimised in a continuous improvement process through full cell testing supported by modelling to optimise electrode and cell designs through manufacture as a prismatic cell and prototype testing at by OEMs. (SOH) monitoring across the entire battery lifecycle will optimise safety 2nd use viability. SIGNE will go significantly beyond SoA with recovery of anode, cathode and electrolyte components. In this circular economy approach recovered materials will be returned to the relevant work package to produce new electrodes.