Technology Minerals Plc's (LSE:TM1) 48.35% owned battery recycling business, Recyclus has been awarded £50,000 in funding by the Clean Futures Accelerator Programme.
The funding, which will be matched by £50,000 from Recyclus, will be used to continue work on its pioneering process to recycle lithium thionyl chloride (LTC) batteries.
Recyclus added these batteries are commonly used in devices that require long life spans, including fire alarms, smart meters and a wide range of industrial applications with no established method of recycling LTC batteries in Europe other than exporting them.
Anwar Sattar, the company’s scientific director, commented: "This is a tremendous opportunity for both Recyclus and the UK.
“LTC batteries contain up to 5% lithium by mass, and recycling this material strengthens our national resource security. Recycling just one tonne of LTC batteries can produce enough lithium to power seven large electric vehicles."
In addition, on 29 August, Recyclus said it set a record throughput for processing Li-ion batteries under 4kg in a single shift at its Wolverhampton Li-ion recycling facility, with 7.2 tonnes of batteries shredded.
This included small batteries sourced from handheld devices obtained through strategic partnerships by the company though no E-Bike, automotive or traction batteries.
Robin Brundle, chairman of Technology Minerals and director of Recyclus, added: "Our recent achievement of setting a new processing record at our Li-ion recycling facility highlights our ability to progressively ramp up our recycling process, providing a key sustainable solution within the recycling industry to the issue of discarded Li-ion batteries.
“This funding will allow us to continue driving innovation and advancing a more sustainable future across all industrial sectors in the shift to electrification.”
Clean Futures is headed by Catapult Connected Places, the UK's accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership.