NEWS: Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Finally Takes Off in North America and Europe

[Steve_S]

An Important Article released yesterday.

Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Finally Takes Off in North America and Europe​

Li-Cycle, Northvolt, and Ganfeng Lithium are among those building recycling plants, spurred by environmental and supply-chain concerns​

By Jean Kumagai

Later this year, the Canadian firm Li-Cycle will begin constructing a US $175 million plant in Rochester, N.Y., on the grounds of what used to be the Eastman Kodak complex. When completed, it will be the largest lithium-ion battery-recycling plant in North America.

The plant will have an eventual capacity of 25 metric kilotons of input material, recovering 95 percent or more of the cobalt, nickel, lithium, and other valuable elements through the company’s zero-wastewater, zero-emissions process. “We’ll be one of the largest domestic sources of nickel and lithium, as well as the only source of cobalt in the United States,” says Ajay Kochhar, Li-Cycle’s cofounder and CEO.

Founded in late 2016, the company is part of a booming industry focused on preventing tens of thousands of tons of lithium-ion batteries from entering landfills. Of the 180,000 metric tons of Li-ion batteries available for recycling worldwide in 2019, just a little over half were recycled. As lithium-ion battery production soars, so does interest in recycling.

According to London-based Circular Energy Storage, a consultancy that tracks the lithium-ion battery-recycling market, about a hundred companies worldwide recycle lithium-ion batteries or plan to do so soon. The industry is concentrated in China and South Korea, where the vast majority of the batteries are also made, but there are several dozen recycling startups in North America and Europe. In addition to Li-Cycle, that list includes Stockholm-based Northvolt, which is jointly building an EV-battery-recycling plant with Norway’s Hydro, and Tesla alum J.B. Straubel’s Redwood Materials, which has a broader scope of recycling electronic waste. [See sidebar, “14 Li-ion Battery-Recycling Projects to Watch.”]

STORY CONTINUES : Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Finally Takes Off in North America and Europe - IEEE Spectrum

 

[Steve_S]

As the article above says, such Recycling facilities are coming to North America, some already exist in Europe as well as Asia but they are being expanded upon.

We have battery recycling going on here, there are containers for the different kinds of cells people have at the waste depots and some of the local retailers. Sadly this does not appear to be uniform AND people are not really educated to use these services/facilities. It will require advertisement, promotion & public awareness campaigns. Larger Scrap Yards / Vehicle recyclers are indeed recovering the EV batteries but it's semi-hap-hazard as there is a lot of fear and hesitation and an obvious Lack of Training. I saw an advert from the Local Community College offering EV Training Course for mechanics and even a Recovery Course... so it seems to be starting in earnest.

Cost recovery for Lead Acid is the value of the lead which is infinitely recyclable. Given the materials used within Lithium Based battery, there is obviously serious value to recover but will there be any legislative incentive ? Likely depends on the Nation but seems it would be far more complicated to administer such.

We can look at a Regressive Nation like Australia... The Worlds largest Lithium Exporter by a significant lead, has ALL the resources required underfoot, not ONE Lithium Battery production facility (first one just announced and it's a baby at 28 million dollars). and ZERO recycling of any RE Materials. Makes one wonder why on earth anyone would give away such a huge potential industry segment....