Advanced sustainable and safe pre-processing technologies for End-of-Life (EoL) battery recycling (Batt4EU Partnership)
HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions
Basic Information
- Identifier
- HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-01
- Programme
- Cross-sectoral solutions for the climate transition
- Programme Period
- 2021 - 2027
- Status
- Closed (31094503)
- Opening Date
- December 6, 2023
- Deadline
- April 17, 2024
- Deadline Model
- single-stage
- Budget
- €21,000,000
- Min Grant Amount
- €7,000,000
- Max Grant Amount
- €7,000,000
- Expected Number of Grants
- 3
- Keywords
- HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-01HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01Energy storage
Description
The pre-treatment process is the first and indispensable step in recycling Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), which significantly affects the recycling rate of the spent devices and the extraction rate of the high-value metals in the subsequent metallurgical processes. The batteries also contain toxic chemicals, which should be preventatively separated to promote environmental protection and sustainability. Moreover, the pre-treatment processes also help to reduce the scrap volume and allow the separation of the battery components.
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- A European economic base which is stronger, more resilient, competitive and fit for the green and digital transitions, by reducing strategic dependencies for critical raw materials by promoting a circular economy.
- The direction of the EU battery industry towards the zero-waste concept by developing holistic, materials and energy efficient recycling processes that can increase the content of recovered mass and by improving the cooperation between recyclers and battery manufacturing through a vertical integration strategy, for those cases where battery and/or component repurposing is not a viable option.
- The circularity of battery materials, where also non-metallic elements (electrolyte, solvent, salts and polymers) are recycled back to use (as raw materials or valuable chemicals). The “cradle to cradle approach” will be addressed though waste pre-treatment by safe and sustainable separation and recovery.
- Environmentally beneficial processes for battery pre-treatment (pre-processing and separation) of the main elements to decrease the CO2 footprint and other emissions of the recycled materials.
- Safe technologies aimed at improved recovery yield, increased quality and purity level of the recycled/recovered materials, improved impurity removal.
The current EOL LIB recycling technologies are focused on improving the recovering efficiency of Cobalt that is the most valuable material. However, other no-Co battery contents need to be extracted in one go to develop recycling processes with economic, societal and environmental perspectives. They, for instance, include low-density plastics, metal shells and foils, binders, separators, organic solvents, Li salt, anode active materials. Successful separation methods have the potential to enrich the constituent of targeted materials and improve the profit for recycling.
In recent years, several pre-treatment processes were tested at least at lab-scale (usually mechanical, thermal and chemical options). The goal is to develop and integrate new advanced pre-processing concepts that enable more efficient and safe technologies for recycling EoL LIBs. Substantial improvements should be achieved in the processes environmental and economic viability and in the circular economy, narrowing the sustainability gaps in the whole battery recyclates pre-treatment.
The following pre-treatment concepts are expected to be addressed:
- Battery sorting at component level that should be more efficient, accurate, also including recommendations for the standardisation of labelling of battery components, due to the huge variation of physical configurations, cell types and chemistries, with the aim of re-using the suitable components.
- Advanced pre-processing methods including (but not limited to) physical, mechanical, dry, thermal and aqueous pre-treatment methods that allow improved pre-concentration while minimising as much as possible waste side products.
- Process design enabling the recovery and valorisation of anode materials.
- Electrolyte valorisation through the development of sustainable and safe processes for the recovery of Li-salts.
- Separation of all the strategic battery materials that should be integrated into existing/innovative recycling processes to mitigate potential effect of impurities.
- Recovery of electrode current collectors (Al and Cu) that should be improved by developing more efficient separation methods of the metal foils from the electrode materials and easier removal of the organic binder.
- Other recoverable not-active materials from the EoL battery (solvent as EC, DEC, DMC, binders, separator).
- Pre-assessing concepts by their life cycle sustainability and safety impacts and studying overall techno-economical solutions for recovery systems in order to minimize cost, environmental impact and system losses.
Plans for the exploitation and dissemination of results for proposals submitted under this topic should include a strong business case and sound exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination. The exploitation plans should include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan).
Pre-treatment should not impede on second life, according to the principles of the waste hierarchy.
The topic will generate insights that may be of use for on-going research and innovation on new recycling processes and concepts from topic HORIZON-CL5-2023-D2-01-02.
Projects may collaborate and/or contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action defined under the topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D2-01-08.
Proposals could consider the involvement of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) whose contribution could consists of providing added value regarding various aspects of battery sustainability.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.
Destination & Scope
This Destination covers thematic areas which are cross-cutting by nature and can provide key solutions for climate, energy and mobility applications. In line with the scope of cluster 5 such areas are batteries, hydrogen[1], communities and cities[2], early-stage breakthrough technologies as well as citizen engagement[3]. Although these areas are very distinct in terms of challenges, stakeholder communities and expected impacts, they have their cross-cutting nature as a unifying feature and are therefore grouped, if not addressed in other places of this work programme, under this Destination.
This Destination contributes to the following Strategic Plan’s Key Strategic Orientations (KSO):
- C: Making Europe the first digitally enabled circular, climate-neutral and sustainable economy through the transformation of its mobility, energy, construction and production systems;
- A: Promoting an open strategic autonomy[4] by leading the development of key digital, enabling and emerging technologies, sectors and value chains to accelerate and steer the digital and green transitions through human-centred technologies and innovations;
- D: Creating a more resilient, inclusive and democratic European society, prepared and responsive to threats and disasters, addressing inequalities and providing high-quality health care, and empowering all citizens to act in the green and digital transitions.
It covers the following impact areas:
- Industrial leadership in key and emerging technologies that work for people
- Affordable and clean energy
- Smart and sustainable transport
The expected impact, in line with the Strategic Plan, is to contribute to the “Clean and sustainable transition of the energy and transport sectors towards climate neutrality facilitated by innovative cross-cutting solutions”, notably through:
- Nurturing a world-class European research and innovation eco-system on batteries along the value chain based on sustainable pathways. It includes improvement of technological performance to increase application user attractiveness (in particular in terms of safety, cost, user convenience, fast charging and environmental footprint), in parallel supporting the creation of a competitive, circular, and sustainable European battery manufacturing value chain (more detailed information below).
- Nurturing the development of emerging technologies with high potential to enable zero-greenhouse gas and negative emissions in energy and transport (more detailed information below).
A competitive and sustainable European battery value chain
Batteries will enable the rollout of zero-emission mobility and renewable energy storage, contributing to the European Green Deal and supporting the UN SDGs by creating a vibrant, responsible and sustainable market. Besides climate neutrality, batteries also contribute to other UN SDGs directly and indirectly such as enabling of decentralized and off-grid energy solutions.
The strategic pathway is, on the one hand, for Europe to rapidly regain technological competitiveness in order to capture a significant market share of the new and fast-growing rechargeable battery market, and, on the other hand, to invest in longer term research on future battery technologies to establish Europe's long term technological leadership and industrial competitiveness
The Partnership “Towards a competitive European industrial battery value chain for stationary applications and e-mobility”, with as short name Batt4EU, to which all battery-related topics under this Destination will contribute, aims to establish world-leading sustainable and circular European battery value chain to drive transformation towards a carbon-neutral society.
The main impacts to be generated by topics targeting the battery value chain under this Destination are:
- Increased global competitiveness of the European battery ecosystem through generated knowledge and leading-edge technologies in battery materials, cell design, manufacturing and recycling.
- Significant contribution to the policy needs of the European Green Deal through new solutions for circularity and recycling of batteries.
- Accelerated growth of innovative, competitive and sustainable battery manufacturing industry in Europe.
- Development of sustainable and safe technologies and systems for decarbonisation of transport and stationary applications.
- Contributing to the strategic independence of Europe through investigation of alternative battery chemistries using non-critical raw materials and efficient recycling technologies.
- Increasing synergies with other partnerships and initiatives.
Emerging breakthrough technologies and climate solutions
Although the contribution of a wide range of technologies to reach climate neutrality is already foreseeable, EU R&I programming should also leave room for emerging and break-through technologies with a high potential to achieve climate neutrality. These technologies can play a significant role in reaching the EU’s goal to become climate neutral by 2050.
Relevant topics supported under this Destination complement the activities supported under Pillars I or III. They address emerging technologies that can enable the climate transition with a technology-neutral bottom-up approach. Research in this area is mostly technological in nature but should also, where relevant, be accompanied by assessments of environmental, social and economic impacts, by identification of regulatory needs, and by activities supporting the creation of value chains to build up new ecosystems of stakeholders working on breakthrough technologies.
The main expected impacts to be generated by the topic targeting breakthrough technologies and climate solutions under this Destination are:
- Emergence of unanticipated technologies enabling emerging zero-greenhouse gas and negative emissions in energy and transport;
- Development of high-risk/high return technologies to enable a transition to a net greenhouse gas neutral European economy.
[1] The bulk of activities are supported by the Institutional Partnership ‘Clean Hydrogen’.
[2] Communities and cities are mainly supported under the Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and through the co-funded Partnership ‘Driving Urban Transition’, implemented in this work programme as a grant to identified beneficiary.
[3] Citizens engagement as well as social sciences and humanities are mainstreamed across multiple topics across various Destinations in this work programme.
[4] ‘Open strategic autonomy’ refers to the term ‘strategic autonomy while preserving an open economy’, as reflected in the conclusions of the European Council 1 – 2 October 2020.
Eligibility & Conditions
General conditions
2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
-
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
-
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
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Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
7. Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support & Resources
Online Manual is your guide on the procedures from proposal submission to managing your grant.
Horizon Europe Programme Guide contains the detailed guidance to the structure, budget and political priorities of Horizon Europe.
Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – find the answers to most frequently asked questions on submission of proposals, evaluation and grant management.
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Latest Updates
Call update: EVALUATION results
Published: 07/12/2022
Deadline: 18/04/2024
Available budget: EUR 92.000.000
The results of the evaluation for each topic are as follows:
|
|
D2-01-01 |
D2-01-02 |
D2-01-03 |
D2-01-04 |
D2-01-05 |
|
Number of proposals submitted (including proposals transferred from or to other calls) |
28 |
30 |
7 |
50 |
2 |
|
Number of inadmissible proposals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Number of ineligible proposals |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
Number of above-threshold proposals |
5 |
12 |
2 |
21 |
1 |
|
Total budget requested for above-threshold proposals |
39.144.153,00 € |
81.714.308,00 € |
9.196.860,00 € |
51.607.568,00 € |
19.949.437,00 € |
|
Number of proposals retained for funding |
2 |
3 |
1 |
12 |
1 |
|
Number of proposals in the reserve list |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
Funding threshold |
14.5 |
13.5 |
14 |
13 |
13.5 |
|
Ranking distribution for proposals above the evaluation thresholds |
|||||
|
Number of proposals with scores lower or equal to 15 and higher or equal to 14 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
9 |
0 |
|
Number of proposals with scores lower than 14 and higher or equal to 13 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
5 |
1 |
|
Number of proposals with scores lower than 13 and higher or equal to 10 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
7 |
0 |
Summary of observer report:
“The evaluation of the 117 eligible proposals submitted in response to the call HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01 was performed between 13 May and 21 June 2024. The call covered 5 topics, 4 of them of the RIA type (Research and Innovation Action) with a conventional funding scheme, and one topic of the IA type (Innovation Action) with Lump Sum funding. Each of these proposals was evaluated entirely remotely by a panel of 5 independent evaluators.
The evaluation was thorough, performed in full transparency and impartiality, with fair and equal treatment of all proposals, and in full compliance with all applicable general Horizon Europe rules as well as with specific rules for the call. The evaluation was performed with the external participation of 71 evaluators, 13 rapporteurs, and 8 quality checkers moderated by 12 project officers, under the supervision and permanent guidance of 6 Senior Project Managers and a call coordination team. All participants demonstrated a high degree of dedication and professionalism.
The whole process was observed, remotely, by an independent observer who was given full and unfettered access to all relevant aspects of the call and evaluation process to enable him to complete his task.
The end result of the evaluation is a rank list of proposals for each topic, i.e. each budget line, agreed by all participants, where the best proposals selected for funding, within the available budget limits, have been clearly identified.”
We recently informed the applicants about the evaluation results for their proposals.
For questions, please contact the Research Enquiry Service.
The call for proposals HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01 closed on 18/04/2023. 119 proposals were submitted to the call. The breakdown per topic is:
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-01 (RIA): 28 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-02 (IA-LS): 30 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-03 (RIA): 7 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-04 (RIA): 52 proposals
HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-05 (RIA): 2 proposals
Important notice:
Please note that the submission system for RIA topics of this call (topics ending 01, 03, 04 and 05) has been modified to allow submission of a technical annex without any size limit (versus 45 pages before); this will allow applicants to topic HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-05 to submit proposals with up to 60 pages as foreseen in the Work Programme for this topic. As a result there will be no warning from the submission system in case the annex is more than 45 pages (topics 01, 03 and 04) or more than 60 pages (topic 05), therefore please ensure you submit a proposal with the correct length. Excess pages will be disregarded during the evaluation of proposals.
Important update:
Please note that the submission system for RIA topics of this call (topics ending 01, 03, 04 and 05) has been modified to allow submission of a technical annex without any size limit (versus 45 pages before); this will allow applicants to topic HORIZON-CL5-2024-D2-01-05 to submit proposals with up to 60 pages as foreseen in the Work Programme for this topic. As a result there will be no warning from the submission system in case the annex is more than 45 pages (topics 01, 03 and 04) or more than 60 pages (topic 05), therefore please ensure you submit a proposal with the correct length. Excess pages will be disregarded during the evaluation of proposals.