What Orbia's Graphite Recycling Plant Means for UK Energy

Orbia has secured £1.4m (US$1.87m) in UK Government funding to develop what it says will be the country’s first graphite recycling project, positioning the initiative as a step towards lower-carbon battery production and a more resilient energy system.

While lithium-ion batteries are often defined by lithium, graphite represents a far larger share of their composition. According to Orbia, “graphite makes up about 30% of a lithium-ion battery’s weight,” as it is used in the anode to store lithium ions.

The funding will support Orbia’s Fluor and Energy Materials (FEM) business in establishing a domestic recycling project, aimed at recovering this critical material from end-of-life batteries.

Graphite’s role in the energy transition

As electrification accelerates across transport and power systems, demand for graphite is rising in parallel with EV adoption, energy storage deployment and digital infrastructure.

This makes graphite a key enabler of the energy transition, yet supply constraints are emerging. By 2035, global demand is expected to exceed supply by around 2.3 million tonnes.

The UK project is intended to strengthen domestic battery supply chains while reducing exposure to international dependencies. At present, around 95% of natural and synthetic graphite supply is concentrated in China.

The facility forms part of the UK’s £4bn (US$5.4bn) DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK and Innovate UK, with a focus on scaling low and zero-emission transport technologies.

“This investment marks a significant milestone in enabling a huge step toward building a domestic, circular supply chain for battery materials and supporting the UK’s transition to a more sustainable, zero-emission future,” says John Jaddou, Global Director of New Business Development at Orbia FEM.

“It also lays the foundation for the creation of highly skilled jobs that are critical to electrified mobility, circularity and long‑term decarbonisation.

“By leveraging decades of industrial and process expertise in complex fluorine-based chemistries at scale, Orbia is uniquely positioned to demonstrate that graphite recovery can be both technically robust and commercially feasible, laying the groundwork for a future industrial-scale facility.”

Unlocking circular energy materials

A significant proportion of graphite currently ends up in landfill or is incinerated, creating both material losses and avoidable emissions.

By 2030, more than 236,000 tonnes of graphite could be available annually for recovery, representing a potential US$2.6bn market opportunity tied to circular battery supply chains.

Producing graphite from primary sources is energy intensive. Natural graphite requires mining, refinement and grading, while synthetic graphite is derived from petroleum by-products through graphitisation at temperatures of up to 3,000°C, resulting in high energy consumption and significant CO₂ emissions.

Orbia’s FEM division has developed a proprietary process to recover graphite from domestic waste streams, focusing on material extracted from black mass residue generated during battery recycling.

Through a multi-step purification process using hydrofluoric acid, Orbia upgrades the recovered graphite to meet the performance standards required for battery anodes. The resulting material is described as ultra-high-purity and comparable to virgin graphite.

“The projects announced demonstrate the UK’s determination to lead the shift to zero-emission mobility,” says Ian Constance, CEO at Advanced Propulsion Centre UK.

“By facilitating the UK Government’s DRIVE35 grants, we are turning world-class innovation into industrial capability.

“With our partners in DBT and Innovate UK, we are backing manufacturers, empowering SMEs and strengthening the UK’s sovereign supply chain.

“This multi-million-pound support package is more than an investment in technology; it is an investment in the people, skills, and companies that will define the future of clean transport.

“Together, we are building the foundations of a competitive, resilient and sustainable automotive industry.”

Scaling low-carbon battery supply chains

A key feature of Orbia’s approach is its potential to deliver both cost competitiveness and emissions reductions, addressing longstanding barriers to graphite recycling.

Historically, graphite has been less economically attractive to recover than higher-value materials such as lithium, nickel and cobalt. Orbia’s process aims to shift that balance by enabling recycled graphite to compete with virgin supply.

Early assessments suggest the company’s recycled graphite could generate up to four times less CO₂ than synthetic graphite and up to two times less than mined natural graphite.

The initial UK facility will operate at kilogram-scale output, acting as a precursor to a future industrial-scale plant. The project is currently in planning, with operations expected to begin in early 2026 and initial outputs later in the year.

Orbia is also leveraging its UK-based R&D capabilities through its Energy Materials Business Unit in Chester, where it advances battery technologies including electrolytes, solvent systems and lithium-ion prototyping.

To support commercial deployment, the company is developing a circular supply model in partnership with OEMs and battery manufacturers. This would enable recovered graphite to be fed directly back into production, supporting customers’ net-zero goals and reinforcing a more self-sufficient energy supply chain.