The BATTRACE project focuses on the traceability of battery materials and the production processes by which metals are extracted from ore and refined into high-quality raw materials for battery material manufacturers.

The aim is an ecologically and economically sustainable production chain.The research partners in the BATTRACE project are VTT and Geological Survey of Finland GTK.

The total budget of the project is approximately €5.8 million, of which the research project accounts for €2.7 million.

The project funding comes from Business Finland and the research partners as well as the companies participating in the project: Finnish Minerals Group, Keliber, Outotec, Valmet Automation, Latitude66, Fennoscandian Resources and Mawson.future.

VTT and Geological Survey of Finland GTK launched the three-year project with their industrial partners to promote the sustainable production methods and traceability of battery materials.

A promising starting point for tracing the origin is offered by the fingerprint conserved in the metals, which may directly tell where the metals were mined.

Some of the metals used in electric car batteries have been produced at the cost of flagrant compromises on employee safety.

“If it was possible to trace the production chain of battery materials from the battery plant all the way to the mine, certification could be given to sustainably produced batteries. This would give mines and metal refineries with responsible operating practices a competitive advantage, which would encourage the European production chain to develop and grow,” says Päivi Kinnunen, accountable Project Leader for the BATTRACE project at VTT.

The BATTRACE project will examine methods by which production chains can be monitored and certified in both metals industry and other sectors. Another method supporting the tracing of metals is a fingerprint unique to the ore from a specific region, which is expected to be conserved in metals throughout the processing chain.

The fingerprint refers to, for example, atom-level observations made on the composition of materials. Such features as the various forms of metal atoms, isotopes, may reveal its origin. The fingerprint may also indicate the share of recycled metals, which may become important at the phase when battery metals return to circulation in significant proportions.

The battery industry requires significantly purer and more highly refined raw materials than the traditional metal industry. The BATTRACE project aims to optimise the metal production processes for the needs of the battery industry and to ensure their sustainability by such means as life-cycle assessments.