Battery Recycling

Recycling company Green Li-ion has announced the launch of its new commercial facility for producing sustainable, battery-grade materials – the first of its kind in North America. This facility, integrated into an existing recycling plant, will produce battery-grade cathode and anode materials from concentrated components of spent batteries. In contrast to the conventional recycling process in North America, which involves a complex process chain—from sorting the batteries to further processing abroad, primarily in China and South Korea—Green Li-ion relies on an advanced hydrometallurgical process. This closes the recycling loop by converting recycled scrap directly into high-quality battery-grade cathode material (pCAM) without exporting it for further processing. Thanks to the local plant, Green Li-ion significantly reduces the production time to around 12 hours compared to conventional processes. In addition to increasing efficiency, the Green Li-ion process also offers significant environmental benefits. It is said to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 percent compared to producing new materials. In addition, Green Li-ion’s plant is the first of its kind on the continent to process the unsorted black mass of various lithium-ion battery chemistries into pCAM on a large scale, guaranteeing a 99 percent purity, Green Li-ion explains in the press release. Source: https://www.greenli-ion.com/post/green-li-ion-launches-north-americas-first-commercial-scale-plant-to-produce-recycled-lithium-ion-engineered-battery-materials

Volkswagen Group UK has extended its existing contract with battery recycler Ecobat. The agreement now covers the collection and recycling of used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles.

Fortum will collaborate with Hydrovolt, a joint venture between Northvolt and Norsk Hydro, on battery recycling in the future. The partnership is intended to establish Northern Europe as a pioneer in battery circular economy.

Starting 2024, Stena Recycling in Sweden is to process the production waste of Norwegian manufacturer Morrow Batteries. Both partners are also planning the construction of a recycling plant in Norway.

Canadian Battery recycler Li-Cycle has received a commitment of up to 6.4 million euros from the German state of Saxony-Anhalt where the company opened its first European recycling facility.

Primobius has been awarded an 18.8-million-euro contract to build a hydrometallurgical refining hub for the Mercedes plant in Kuppenheim, Germany.

Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast and Marubeni, a Japanese trading and investment conglomerate, announced a memorandum of understanding to explore opportunities in the reuse of electric vehicle batteries, with the aim of establishing a circular economy model.  Reuse without pack disassembly The companies will cooperate in the research and production of battery energy storage systems using batteries previously used in electric vehicles. VinFast will supply the batteries, while Marubeni will conduct feasibility studies, provide technical advice, and carry out the deployment of the stationary energy storage systems. The aim is to recycle the batteries from VinFast’s electric vehicles as complete battery packs. The companies hope that this will result in cost-effective and easy-to-produce BESS, as it will eliminate the need to dismantle, reprocess and repackage the battery. Source: https://www.vingroup.net/en/news/detail/2953/vinfast-and-marubeni-collaborate-to-repurpose-ev-batteries

The German electric vehicle manufacturer e.GO and the Aachen-based battery recycling start-up cylib have announced the start of a strategic cooperation. The aim of the partnership, which was initiated at the end of 2022, is to improve the sustainability of electric vehicles by taking a holistic approach to the entire lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries. This includes the development, use and recycling of batteries. First batteries already delivered In support of this goal, e.GO has now delivered the first battery cells to cylib. With these batteries, cylib aims to improve the recycling process to enable the recovery of all raw materials contained in the battery. The companies hope that the partnership will provide valuable insights into design requirements, assembly methods and future recycling characteristics. No details were provided about the scope of the deliveries or the planned duration of the collaboration. Source: https://e-go-mobile.com/en/newsroom/180

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and partners from industry are working on a new process chain for recycling spent batteries. The collaboration aims to achieve more efficient recycling by retaining the batteries’ active components.