ExpectedOutcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- A European economic base which is stronger, more resilient, competitive and fit for the green and digital transitions, by reducing strategic dependency on third countries for critical raw materials by promoting resource efficiency.
- Increased European competitiveness by offering sustainable, safe, energy efficient and low carbon, water and biodiversity footprint battery materials production technologies and scalable solutions and by creating new business opportunities and circular models for European industry.
- Battery-grade intermediates which are developed, produced and refined/purified in a sustainable and socially acceptable way, improving the competitiveness and value of European battery and mobility industries.
- Proven technical feasibility of downstream processing for battery-grade materials at larger scale, considering economic feasibility, safety, health and regulatory targets.
- A stronger European battery manufacturing industry, through the implementation of continuous processes related conditions at larger scale with reduced carbon emissions, increased energy efficiency and more efficient resources use; (e.g. combining secondary materials into existing primary processing).
- Use of European post-mining (or post-extraction, in the case of e.g. geothermal fluids) primary materials and secondary material sources such as tailings (e.g., as a source of nickel, cobalt and lithium) or underutilised battery raw materials deposits and extend the local refining capacity of battery-grade materials, to reduce the dependency on imported materials and to limit supply risks.
Scope:
Proposals are expected to cover research and innovation activities with focus on improved battery metal and material production, refining and recovery while minimizing environmental impact of downstream processing by addressing all of the following points:
- Developing sustainable and cost-efficient processing methods for battery-grade materials and components, coming from either primary or secondary streams and novel technologies for battery metals processing enabling the reduction of carbon footprint and other emissions while increasing energy and resource efficiency; enabling thereby vertical integration into the battery production.
- Developing and demonstrating technologies to improve battery grade metals and materials production, refining and/or recycling with efficient and stable reagent circulation, targeting low use chemical and reducing environmental impacts from such processes while improving recovery rate/grade and yield considering the SRIA objectives and KPIs, the Green Deal objectives and the proposed Batteries Regulation[1] where relevant.
- Addressing zero waste and zero discharge strategies for the valorisation of the generated waste materials during the refining processes by: improving the reuse of waste where CRM are present; Increasing the sustainability of batteries materials by reducing the use of chemicals and energy use in the downstream processing considering the objectives of the proposed Batteries Regulation as evaluated by LCA or similar approaches; using safe and low impact disposal methodologies for those materials that cannot be recycled.
- Pre-assessing recycling concepts by their life cycle sustainability and safety impacts (in line with Safe and Sustainable by Design Framework[2] to be set by the Commission for assessing safety and sustainability of chemicals and materials and which should be considered as a reference in the proposal) and studying overall techno-economical solutions for recovery systems in order to minimize cost, environmental impact and system losses.
- Addressing understanding of physico-chemical mechanisms for more sustainable hydrometallurgical steps in order to propose significant processes’ improvements to reduce significantly water effluents quantities and chemical reagents.
- Implementing of continuous process for cathode active materials and precursors synthesis related conditions at larger scale.
Plans for the exploitation and dissemination of results for proposals submitted under this topic should include a strong business case and sound exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination. The exploitation plans should include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan).
Proposals should indicate to which chapters of the Strategic Research and Innovation Plan for chemicals and materials[3] they will contribute.
Projects may collaborate and/or contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action defined under the topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D2-01-08.
International cooperation with Africa, the Mediterranean Region, and the United States is encouraged.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.
Specific Topic Conditions:
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
[1]COM(2020) 798 final, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning batteries and waste batteries, repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) No 2019/1020
[2]See documents defining the SSbD framework and criteria on: https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en
[3]https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/research-area/industrial-research-and-innovation/key-enabling-technologies/advanced-materials-and-chemicals_en
