Objective
Lead Acid Batteries (LABs) are a vital and widely-used technology. The global LAB market is expected to grow by 59% to €71.6 billion by 2022 with Europe accounting for the second largest market share.
Waste LAB recycling rates are as high as 95% in Europe, but the current recycling process – smelting waste LABs in a
furnace – consumes vast quantities of energy, is highly polluting, wasteful, large scale and expensive. Furthermore, smelted
lead must be further processed to produce the essential LAB ingredient: the active lead oxide paste.
A new lead recycling process is needed that is energy efficient, non-polluting, low cost, scalable and produces LAB-ready
lead products. Such process would meet EC priorities by addressing resource efficiency, the sustainable supply of raw
materials and drive the circular economy.
AEL has developed a novel hydrometallurgical process technology to recycle waste LABs in a highly energy efficient, non-polluting and cost effective way. NUOVOpb’s commercial appeal lies in its low cost and scalability, and our ground-breaking ability to produce LAB-ready products that exceed the performance of current products on the market. Our LAB-ready paste can create new LABs with 22% greater energy capacity and 50% longer life.
The technology has the potential to transform the global battery recycling industry, which has an expected value of €9.5 billion in 2024.
5 years post project, we expect to be operating 18 NUOVOpb facilities across the world. These will be processing 490,000
tonnes of waste LABs (6% of the global waste LAB market) and avoiding 196,000 tonnes CO2 emissions every year. In doing so, AEL will secure annual revenues of €206 million, profits of €54 million, and will have created 200 jobs within AEL.
NUOVOpb is the most complete closed-loop recycling system in the world, providing significant commercial opportunities for businesses in both the LAB recycling and LAB manufacturing supply chain, globally.
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- natural scienceschemical scienceselectrochemistryelectric batteries
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistryalkali metals
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-2 - SME instrument phase 2Coordinator
B13 8PY BIRMINGHAM
United Kingdom
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.