Finland’s University of Oulu drives battery recyclability and supply chain research

The University of Oulu in Finland, has revealed details of two European Union-funded battery recycling and supply chain research projects it is involved in.

Safeloop and Streams are three-year projects being backed by the EU’s Horizon Europe research funding program.

The former aims to improve the durability of lithium-ion batteries by doubling their life cycle, versus the performance of products made in 2019.

The Safeloop project – coordinated by the University of Oulu and featuring research bodies and companies from Germany, Poland, Ukraine, France, Türkiye, Greece, Denmark, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia – also aims to increase the recyclability of European-made lithium-ion batteries.

Recycling aim

It is estimated only 10% to 15% of the materials which go into European lithium-ion devices are recycled and Safeloop aims to increase that figure by 15% by 2030.

A press release issued by University of Oulu about the projects stated any 2 Ah batteries it produced from recycled materials would be fully safety tested.

The university is also involved in the Streams project, which aims to strengthen the bloc’s energy storage supply chain by exploring new, sustainable production of battery anode and cathode materials.

The Streams partners will investigate the viability of using industrial by-products as battery raw materials with the University of Oulu giving the example of by-products of zinc, nickel, and aluminum production which could be used as cathode materials.