AIM & OBJECTIVES

 

Bridging conventional and innovative recycling processes for batteries

The RESTORE project set out in January 2025 to address the most pressing issues faced by batteries recyclers, notably the diversity of the recycling processes elaborated at company level. By focusing on two established technical routes – dry mechanical and thermal treatment – and introducing two advanced methods – electrohydraulic fragmentation, and unwinding & delamination – RESTORE aims to optimise current recycling processes without imposing companies to readjust their existing industrial setups. This dual approach not only benchmarks these technological routes to identify the best processing methods but also helps stakeholders adopt innovations in emerging recycling lines.
The project’s concept aims not only shorten the recycling process, but also to improve the efficiency, safety, environmental footprint and costs of pre-processing operations. Additionally, RESTORE will equally unlock the recovery of highly valuable materials currently lost in conventional recycling processes, such as the electrolyte, organic binder, graphite and cathode active material (CAM ).
Restore Concept
Stage 1

Research, development and optimisation of different technologies

Stage 2

Benchmarking and selection of the optimum processing parameters and flowsheet for validation of recycled materials

Stage 3

Validation of the RESTORE concept and reintegration of strategic materials into energy storage applications at TRL 5

Objectives breakdown

Objective 1

Develop and prototype at TRL a fast, contactless solution to sort batteries by type and chemistry

Objective 2

Develop a novel effective discharging technique for small domestic batteries.

Objective 3

Develop a smart, fast and safe automatic solution to dismantle battery pack into components.

Objective 4

Develop a fast and safe method to dismantle modules to cells and cells to electrodes, using innovative unwinding, delamination, and electrohydraulic fragmentation for high-purity material separation.

Objective 5

Develop advanced pre-processing techniques for high-purity black mass (BM) production from industrial lines using thermal and dry mechanical treatments, and separate high-purity cathodic and anodic materials with advanced beneficiation process.

Objective 6

Implement direct formulation of tailored electrodes for new batteries > Direct recycling of cathodic and anodic materials.

Objective 7

Achieve zero-waste and cradle-to-cradle recycling for all non-active battery materials, including electrolytes, binders, polymers, and other non-active metals.

Objective 8

Develop a safe, economically and environmentally sustainable process. In RESTORE, the techno-economic assessment of the individual processes will determine the most promising processing route from scalability and economic perspectives. This assessment will be complemented by a Safe and Sustainability by Design (SSbD) including Life cycle assessment (LCA).

Objective 9

Validate the RESTORE concept and performance of recycled materials on coin cells.

The RESTORE initiative aims to demonstrate that the 2031 battery regulation targets for recyclability are achievable:

  • > 95 % for Co, Ni, and Cu
  • > 80 % for Li
  • > 70 % by average weight of Li-based batteries.

Furthermore, RESTORE will ensure that the cost of recycled and produced materials falls below the 2030 battery manufacturing KPIs set by the European partnership’s SRIA, with manufacturing costs under €80/kWh at the cell level and energy consumption below 25kWh/kWh.