Sustainable processing and refining of raw materials to produce battery grade Li-ion battery materials (Batt4EU Partnership)
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See in 5 min if you're eligible for Sustainable processing and refining of raw materials to produce battery grade Li-ion battery materials (Batt4EU Partnership) offering max €69.0M funding💰 Funding Details
Funding Description – HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D2-03
What the Grant Funds
* Demonstration at pilot/first-of-a-kind scale of cost-efficient, safe and sustainable processing & refining routes that convert primary or secondary lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel, manganese or phosphorus into:
* Battery-grade metals and precursors; and/or
* Electrode active materials (EAMs).
* Validation of chemical, electro-chemical and physical performance of the produced materials against current industrial specifications (cell integration tests are *out of scope*).
* Full engineering design, construction, operation and optimisation of the demo unit(s), including digital twins, advanced process control, SSbD assessments and LCA/LCC.
* Business-oriented activities: scalability studies, site permitting, go-to-market plans, social-acceptance actions, preparation for Innovation Fund / private financing.
* Dissemination, exploitation & IP management, incl. open science, data stewardship (aligning with Batt4EU KPIs and Batteries Regulation reporting).
Key Funding Details
| Item | Detail |
|------|--------|
| Call Identifier | HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D2-03 |
| Action Type | HORIZON-IA (Innovation Action) – Lump-Sum |
| Indicative EU contribution per grant | Up to €69 million (no co-funding rate reduction) |
| Total call budget | Not disclosed; typically 1–2 large IA projects expected |
| TRL at start / end | ~TRL 5-6 → TRL 7-8 |
| Project duration | 36–48 months recommended |
| Opening / Deadline | 06 May 2025 ➜ 02 Sep 2025 (17:00 CET) |
| Evaluation criteria | Excellence (1/3) • Impact (1/3) • Quality & Efficiency (1/3) • Min. threshold 4/5 per criterion, 12/15 overall |
Eligibility Snapshot
* Consortium: ≥3 independent legal entities from ≥3 different EU Member States or HE-Associated Countries.
* Additional eligible countries: OECD, African Union, MERCOSUR, CARIFORUM, Andean Community and those with EU strategic/raw-material trade partnerships.
* The Joint Research Centre may join as a regular partner.
* Entities from countries *outside* the above list render the proposal ineligible.
Mandatory Thematic & Horizontal Requirements
1. Source Materials: EU/associated-origin primary ores, brines etc., and/or secondary streams (tailings, black mass, slags, wastewater).
2. Out-of-Scope: Mining & mechanical recycling of batteries; pre-treatment of battery waste; cell production lines.
3. Safe & Sustainable by Design (SSbD): Apply EC framework throughout the material and process life-cycle.
4. Social Acceptance: Co-creation with local communities, unions, NGOs; integrate feedback into plant design & business model.
5. Coordination: Cooperate with CSA under topic HORIZON-CL5-2025-D2-02-06 and feed data to Batt4EU partnership dashboard.
Eligible Cost Categories (lump-sum logic)
Although reimbursed as a single lump sum, plan and justify the full cost structure:
* Personnel, equipment (pilot plant, analytical lab, monitoring), subcontracting.
* Consumables, utilities, prototypes.
* Travel & meetings, stakeholder engagement, communication.
* Exploitation, business planning, certification, regulatory compliance.
* Contingency & risk-mitigation activities.
Funding-Specific Tips
* Build a realistic, milestone-based lump-sum breakdown; payment is milestone-driven, *not* cost-receipt driven.
* Explain how the project delivers ≥40 % EU processing capacity target and demonstrates clear route to 2030 commercial plants.
* Quantify improvements vs. state of the art (yield, energy use, GHG, water, waste, OPEX/CAPEX).
* Detail IP & freedom-to-operate strategy, especially for proprietary chemistries or solvent systems.
📊 At a Glance
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🇪🇺 Strategic Advantages
EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities for HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D2-03
1. Single Market Access
• 450+ million consumers & >23 M companies: Successful large-scale demonstration of sustainable Li-ion raw-material processing immediately gains tariff-free entry to the entire customs union.
• OEM pull: Over 35 EU gigafactories announced (≈1.8 TWh by 2030) create instant offtake potential for battery-grade Li, Ni, Co, Mn, graphite, P precursors.
• Public procurement leverage: The 2023/1542 Batteries Regulation introduces mandatory green-public-procurement criteria that favour EU-produced, low-carbon input materials.
2. Cross-Border Collaboration
• Consortium composition: Regulation allows partners from all 27 MS + associated & strategic partner countries—ideal for combining ore/brine sources (e.g. PT, ES, FI), hydromet expertise (BE, DE), and circular-economy leaders (SE, NL).
• Knowledge exchange: Mandatory interaction with the Battery Partnership CSA and JRC opens channels to >100 ongoing Horizon projects; avoids duplication and accelerates TRL 6→8 scale-up.
• Industrial symbiosis: Secondary feedstocks (steel slags, Ni/Co tailings, black mass) can be sourced trans-nationally, balancing supply/demand and reducing transport emissions through optimised logistics corridors (TEN-T green lanes).
3. Alignment with EU Policies
• European Green Deal & Fit-for-55: Low-carbon refining contributes to 90 % GHG reduction target in heavy industry.
• Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA): Directly tackles the 40 % domestic processing capacity goal for SRMs; high political visibility = easier permitting & fast-track access to European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) support.
• Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA): Demonstration plants above 1 kt/y can qualify as NZIA ‘Net-Zero Technologies’, easing state-aid clearance.
• Circular Economy Action Plan & Batteries Regulation: Valorising secondary streams meets mandatory recovery efficiency (>95 % for Li & Co by 2031) and carbon-footprint declaration rules.
4. Regulatory Harmonisation
• Unified REACH, CLP, SSbD frameworks: One set of safety & sustainability data accepted EU-wide, reducing duplication of testing costs (≃-30 %).
• EU taxonomy alignment: Projects that prove substantial contribution to climate-change mitigation ease investor due diligence and unlock green-bond markets.
5. Innovation Ecosystem
• Access to >4 000 battery-related patents from EU RTOs (VITO, SINTEF, CEA, Fraunhofer) via open-innovation clauses.
• Pilot-line infrastructure: Utilise existing ERDF/Horizon pilot plants in BE (hydromet), FI (sulfate to hydroxide), PT (direct-lithium-extraction), lowering CAPEX and accelerating commissioning.
• Skills pipelines: Erasmus+ Battery Alliance academies supply trained technicians; mitigates workforce bottlenecks.
6. Funding Synergies
• Innovation Fund large-scale calls: Up to 60 % CAPEX/OPEX support for first-of-a-kind industrial deployment; ideal follow-up after Horizon TRL 8.
• InvestEU / EIB Green Industry window: Debt & quasi-equity for commercial rollout.
• IPCEI on Batteries – Next Wave: Possibility to bundle national state-aid for step-change processes.
• ESIF & Just Transition Fund: Site-selection in coal or carbon-intensive regions (e.g. PL, CZ, RO) can unlock co-funding for retraining & infrastructure.
7. Scale & Impact Pathways
• Pan-European raw-material corridors: Combine Iberian lithium brines with Nordic battery-grade Ni/Co refining, servicing Central-EU cell plants; estimated 14 % logistics cost reduction vs. global imports.
• Replication potential: Modular hydromet lines (10–20 kt/y) can be replicated in 5–7 Member States, reaching >200 kt/y battery-grade output by 2032.
• GHG impact: EU renewable electricity mix enables up to 70 % CO₂-eq reduction compared to Asian processing, supporting Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) scopes 1–3.
8. Societal Acceptance & Stakeholder Engagement
• EU-level consultation: Early involvement of trade unions (IndustriALL), NGOs (Transport & Environment), and local authorities increases social licence to operate.
• Best-practice transfer: Use Horizon’s multi-actor approach to replicate successful community-benefit schemes (e.g. LKAB’s Kiruna social contract) across regions.
9. Competitive Positioning
• De-risking supply chains: Diversifies away from 80 % Asian refining dominance, improving EU OEM bargaining power.
• First-mover advantage: Alignment with upcoming carbon-border-adjustment for batteries could impose tariffs on high-carbon imports, favouring EU producers.
10. Actionable Recommendations for Proposers
1. Form a triangle consortium: (a) resource owners, (b) process-tech SMEs/RTOs, (c) off-taker gigafactories.
2. Integrate an Innovation Fund readiness work-package: life-cycle cost, GHG abatement €/t, bankability dossier.
3. Embed JRC & CSA for harmonised KPI reporting (energy-intensity, yield, recyclability).
4. Map ESG & SSbD compliance early with EU-wide stakeholder panels to shorten permitting.
5. Outline replication road-map to at least three additional EU sites within 5 years post-project.
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