SQM Lithium Ventures has invested $9.4 million in British electric vehicle battery recycler Altilium to help the company scale up its operations, the two firms said on Wednesday.

The corporate venture arm of Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile’s (SQM)  lithium business provided most of the $12 million Series A funding round for Altilium, following a $2.6 million investment by SQM, the world’s second-largest lithium producer, in the startup last year. “The investment in Altilium allows SQM to get ahead of the global recycling curve,” David Rousselle, SQM’s engineering manager and a member of Altilium’s board, said in a statement.

Since SQM’s initial investment of $2.57 million last year, Altilium has hit a number of key development milestones, including the expansion of its UK recycling facilities, enhancement of its proprietary EcoCathode hydrometallurgical process and strengthening of its senior management team.

The additional funding follows a year of progress in the scaling up of Altilium’s proprietary battery recycling technology and underscores both companies’ commitment to developing a circular economy for sustainable low and carbon battery materials, the Chilean group said.

The latest investment in Altilium completes the Series A funding round and marks the largest investment to date for SQM Lithium Ventures, now totalling $12 million.

The additional funding of $9.43 million is expected to accelerate the scale-up Altilium’s UK and European activities, paving the way for the roll-out of the company’s full battery circularity customer offering, which includes zero-carbon EV battery collection, black mass recycling and chemical refining direct to cathode active material (CAM).

Key developments in 2024 include the construction of a 18,000-square-foot facility in Plymouth, Devon; building the first battery recycling station to efficiently transform discarded EV batteries into high-quality black mass; and the retrofit of an existing plant in Eastern Europe, with plans to process 8,000 metric tons of black mass to EV batteries later in the year. Today, most EV batteries are shredded into black mass and shipped to China for processing.

The rise in EVs has brought with it a race to recycle the valuable minerals in their batteries – primarily lithium, cobalt and nickel – which can be worth thousands of euros per car, and counter China’s dominance of this field.

Altilium is one of a number of firms gearing up its recycling business in Europe, where today most EV batteries are shredded into ‘black mass’ that is shipped to China for processing.