Aurubis, Talga to develop process for battery-grade recycled graphite

German company Aurubis AG and Australian battery materials and technology company Talga Group Ltd., have signed a development agreement for a recycled graphite anode product from lithium-ion batteries, according to a news release from Aurubis.

Tests with initial batches of Aurubis material from lithium-Ion batteries have led to “very promising results,” the company says, adding that the project aims to extend the Talga technology to all Aurubis graphite feed materials through closer collaboration between the companies.

Aurubis' expertise in recycling complex materials will be complemented by Talga's graphite processing and anode-making technologies, with the partners aiming to finalize this development for product readiness by 2025.

The project is driven by growing customer interest in recycled graphite anodes, a crucial input factor for the battery industry. Aurubis extracts valuable metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and graphite using a hydrometallurgical process, yielding roughly 95 percent across all metals on average. These recovered metals can then be used for new batteries and other products.

Graphite accounts for around 30 percent of lithium-ion batteries, the company says, adding that it extracts graphite in concentrate form with a purity greater than 90 percent carbon grade using its patented lithium-first battery recycling process.

Aurubis has tested its lithium-first process in a pilot plant at its Hamburg, Germany, site and is building a demonstration plant. Both plants have sufficient capacity to provide the necessary testing material, while Talga will purify the graphite concentrate Aurubis supplies and refine it into 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.

“We see this partnership as an important opportunity,” says Aurubis Chief Operating Officer, Multimetal Recycling, Inge Hofkens. “With recycled graphite, we are keeping crucial battery input material in the loop.

“Partnering with Talga to close the loop for graphite from battery scrap enables us to further leverage our effective and patented battery recycling process. With our metallurgical expertise and pioneering role, Aurubis has the potential to develop a circular solution for graphite.”

Graphite is crucial in battery production, where it serves as the primary anode material that enables high conductivity, performance and charge capacity, Aurubis explains. Producing synthetic graphite is energy-intensive and one of the largest CO2 contributors in battery production. Therefore, recycling could result in significant CO2 savings. China is where the main producers are and where most graphite production for battery anodes occurs.

"This partnership aligns with our broader ambition to produce battery materials that enable the world’s most sustainable batteries," Talga CEO Martin Phillips says

The EU has implemented numerous policies to encourage using recycled battery materials.

The Critical Raw Materials Act has set a 2030 target for 25 percent of annual strategic raw materials used in battery production be derived from recycled sources. Additionally, the EU’s Batteries Regulation has set ambitious targets for battery makers to recycle at least 70 percent of their lithium-ion batteries by the end of 2030 and to declare the provenance of all materials used in battery manufacturing to satisfy environmental, social and corporate governance, or ESG, due diligence requirements.