Riciclo della grafite dalle batterie, a Macerata polo pilota europeo

A Macerata, Europe's first pilot plant for recycling graphite from lithium-ion battery waste will become operational in the second half of the next year. Orim, a company based in Macerata, and Sima, a firm from Chieti, are behind the project called Graphirec. The initiative, which received funding of around 5 million euros, including 3.2 million through a European call, is part of the European Commission's Innovation Radar platform.

This project marks a significant development for the Italian raw materials sector, which has thus far been limited to mechanical processing.

Key to this venture are two patents developed in collaboration with the University of Aquila, enabling the integration of both thermal and hydrometallurgical processes in a single facility. This closed-loop system for using graphite, which makes up nearly half of a battery's weight, is crucial for both industry and environmental policies.

Alfredo Mancini, Orim's founder and CEO, explains that while attention in the battery industry typically focuses on lithium, cobalt, and nickel, graphite is often overlooked. The European Commission, however, considers graphite a critical raw material, and its recovery can consume up to 90% less energy compared to mining.

Recycling graphite could provide Italy with a domestic source of essential materials, reducing the European system's vulnerability and creating strategic autonomy. Mancini, who is also the vice president of Aidic, the Italian association of chemical engineering, emphasizes that the project sets a precedent for future industrial initiatives focused on recovering strategic and critical materials currently imported by Europe in amounts up to 90%. Through recycling, Orim aims to recover at least 25% of these materials by 2030.

According to Brussels, Orim's project is market-ready. Mordor Intelligence estimates the European battery recycling market to grow from $19 billion to $33 billion between 2025 and 2030. In a pilot phase, the plant has already produced over 20 tonnes of graphite with an impressive purity of 99.3%, which has been sent to Norway for use as new raw material in battery production.

Orim, owned by the Xenon fund for 70%, is expected to generate around 27 million euros by 2026 and has announced a new investment plan worth 9.5 million euros to install three rotating furnaces and eight reactors capable of processing eight thousand liters each. These will be dedicated to recovering vanadium, cobalt, molybdenum, platinum, and palladium, as well as other critical raw materials and processes for graphite enrichment up to 99.95% purity.