The U.S. Energy Department has reopened a $500 million battery materials grant round aimed at domestic processing, recycling and component manufacturing, with full applications due April 24, 2026. The program targets commercial and demonstration-scale facilities that can reduce dependence on imported critical minerals and battery inputs.
Fraunhofer IFAM said on April 1, 2026, that it is developing an electrochemical recycling process designed to recover lithium, cobalt and nickel from battery wastewater with less energy and no added acids or bases.
Trafigura has agreed to buy recycled nickel and lithium from U.S. refiner Nth Cycle in a 10-year deal worth $1.1 billion, a contract that could help finance new black mass refining plants in South Carolina and the Netherlands.
BASF and TSR Group have agreed to cooperate on recycling electric vehicle batteries in Europe, adding dismantling, discharging and black mass processing to an industrial chain built around battery metals recovery.
