Government provides £3m grant to Runcorn lithium extraction business

Summary

Watercycle Technologies, a Manchester University spin-out, has secured £3m in grant funding provided by the Government towards a £6m project to establish a demonstration-scale manufacturing line capable of recovering and refining lithium from waste streams for use in electric vehicle batteries.

The Runcorn-based business operates Europe's first commercial direct lithium extraction plant (DLE).

The funding has been awarded through the DRIVE35 Scale Up Fund, as part of the Government's £4bn DRIVE35 programme, delivered by the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade in partnership with the Advanced Propulsion Centre UK (APC) and Innovate UK.

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It was published by TheBusinessDesk North West on 10 August 2026.

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