Altilium announced the filing of its tenth UK patent application on April 8, 2026. The patent covers a proprietary process designed to produce key battery intermediates, including nickel mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP), from recycled feedstocks.
Highlights
- Material Recovery: The system extracts critical minerals from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries, black mass, and manufacturing scrap.
- Output Yields: The process generates low carbon MHP containing nickel and cobalt, alongside lithium sulphate.
- Commercial Scale-Up: A new facility under construction in Plymouth aims to produce 3,200 tonnes of nickel MHP annually.
Pilot Plant Demonstrates MHP Viability
Altilium recently achieved commercial production of nickel MHP at its ACT2 pilot plant. This milestone provides material for customer qualification and verifies the technical readiness of the recovery process. Specifically, the ACT2 facility utilizes a specialized flowsheet to process various forms of battery waste.
Furthermore, manufacturers can directly reintegrate these generated materials into new battery production. The company’s EcoCathode process converts these waste streams into sustainable cathode active materials (CAM) and precursor CAM (pCAM).
Industry Context: Securing Domestic MHP
Currently, Indonesia dominates the global MHP market and is projected to control over 80% of supply by 2030. Consequently, establishing a local supply chain remains critical for the UK’s energy security and geopolitical resilience. MHP increasingly serves as the preferred feedstock for manufacturing battery-grade nickel sulphate used in electric vehicles.
Christian Marston, Altilium COO, stated the patent filing highlights the company’s focus on battery recycling innovation. He noted that converting recycled feedstocks into intermediates like MHP helps reduce reliance on primary mining.
Future Expansion and Regional Capacity
Altilium plans to implement this new proprietary process at its upcoming ACT3 commercial facility. This Plymouth site is currently under construction and will scale up production capabilities significantly. Additionally, the firm’s broader intellectual property portfolio covers graphite recycling and advanced blending techniques. Therefore, these methods help manufacturers meet European Union minimum recycled content requirements.
Looking ahead, Altilium intends to launch a larger facility in Teesside. This plant will possess the capacity to process scrap from more than 150,000 EVs annually. Ultimately, it aims to produce 30,000 metric tons of CAM, which could supply roughly 20% of the UK’s anticipated demand by 2030.
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