Read the numbers behind battery recycling
A capacity figure and a recovery percentage answer different questions. Follow one selected material through an illustrative annual feed, then check what a project announcement actually establishes.
Try a clearly labelled example
The starting material label and all values are illustrative. They are not a measured feed composition or plant result.
Name the element or compound your content and yield describe. This reminder does not change or verify the calculation.
The stated capacity for this feed boundary.
Mass of this feed entering the stated process line during the reporting year. Match the measurement point and feed basis used for capacity, composition and yield.
The material’s mass share in the same feed form and mass basis as annual intake. The starting composition is hypothetical.
The share of incoming selected material recovered into the defined output stream, within the same process boundary. This is not output purity or whole-pack recovery.
Follow the selected material
14.4 tonnes/year
Modelled recovered lithium in this example
- 1 · Incoming feed at the stated process boundary400 tonnes
- 2 · Selected material contained16 tonnesIntake × 4% material content
- 3 · Modelled selected material recovered14.4 tonnesContained material × 90% recovery yield
Use of nominal intake capacity: 40%
Calculated from your inputs. This is not measured plant output or a facility forecast.
The recovery percentage applies to the selected material within the incoming feed. It does not apply to the mass of a whole battery pack.
Keep the denominator in view
Incoming feed × selected-material content = selected material entering the process. That material × its recovery yield = recovered selected material. All masses use the same feed boundary and annual reporting period.
In the starting example, 400 tonnes × 4% = 16 tonnes of the selected material. A 90% yield recovers 14.4 tonnes. Raising actual intake to 800 tonnes gives 28.8 tonnes at the same yield. Raising yield alone to 95% gives 15.2 tonnes at the original intake. The assumptions are illustrative and exclude operating, chemistry and commercial constraints.
A figure stated in battery packs per year needs a supported average pack mass before conversion to tonnes. This tool does not make that conversion or estimate the output of any named facility.
What to check in a project announcement
- Funding and plans. What was awarded, to whom, and on what reported date?
- Construction and commissioning. Which milestones are reported as complete, and which are still plans?
- Actual intake. What mass was processed, over which period, and within which process boundary?
- Material recovery. Which material does the percentage describe, and what measurement supports it?
Two historical reports show why these checks matter. Circular Online’s Altilium report, 13 April 2026, describes an £18.5 million award and a planned ACT3 facility with stated capacity of 24,000 EV batteries a year. That report does not establish the facility’s current operating status or realised output.
A separate Circular Online report, 26 August 2025, describes an £8.1 million project and a company-stated demonstration-scale refining goal. A project award and a demonstration goal do not measure commercial output. These sources illustrate the distinction; they do not validate the calculator’s hypothetical inputs.