Talga turns battery waste into high-purity graphite anodes

[Redator]

Swedish company Talga Group (ASX: TLG) has launched Talnode-R, a graphite anode made from recycled lithium-ion battery waste.

The innovation aims to strengthen the battery supply chain by reclaiming graphite from gigafactory scrap and end-of-life electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

Talga uses a hydrometallurgical process to purify recovered graphite to 99.95%, which matches the performance of new synthetic graphite. Graphite, which can account for up to half the volume of a lithium-ion battery, has long been overlooked by recyclers, who have traditionally focused on cathode metals. With a looming graphite shortfall over the next decade, European self-sufficiency is becoming critical.

Chief executive officer Martin Phillips said that Talnode-R complements the company’s high-power natural graphite anode production and enables global expansion through modular technology.

Battery recycling market data from market intelligence firm Rho-Motion shows that global lithium-ion battery pre-treatment capacity reached 3.5 million tonnes in the first half of 2025, with graphite making up roughly 10–15% of that mass.

Source: Benchmark Rho-Motion recycling report.

Available scrap feedstock for recycling rose 40% year-on-year, driven mainly by production scrap, which made up more than half of the increase. Europe’s scrap volume climbed 38%, while North America’s rose 49%.

The announcement comes as Europe’s gigafactory capacity scales up. EU demand for graphite anodes is projected to exceed 500,000 tonnes annually by 2030, or 12 times the 2020 figure, up from 30,000 tonnes in 2023. 

With China controlling about 84% of global graphite processing capacity, each 10,000 tonnes of European-produced graphite could cut the EU’s dependency on foreign critical minerals by 7%.

Talga is also advancing its Nunasvaara South graphite mine in northern Sweden.