Numerous lithium battery recycling plants have been planned to operate in North America and Europe

　　U.S. lithium-ion battery recycling and manufacturer Battery Resourcers said a few days ago that it plans to build and operate one of the largest lithium-ion battery recycling facilities in North America. The company intends to process as much used batteries from battery energy storage systems as possible.

　　(Battery Resourcers plans to deploy battery recycling plant renderings in Covington, Georgia)

　　Battery Resourcers will build and fully operationalize a 154,000-square-foot commercial-scale battery recycling facility in Georgia this August. The facility will be able to process 30,000 tons of used lithium batteries and scrap annually, and will refine and produce new battery-grade lithium, cobalt and nickel.

　　The company has a partnership with auto industry maker Honda, and the venture capital arm of Jaguar Land Rover is an investor in the company. However, Battery Resourcers said that while recycling and disposing of batteries for vehicles will be the main focus of its business, it will also recycle batteries from stationary battery storage systems.

　　"While we expect the EV market to dominate, we intend to recycle and dispose of as many battery storage systems as possible," a company spokesperson said after confirming that its recycling plant is capable of recycling batteries for battery storage systems. "

　　The material it produces will not be sold directly to the battery energy storage market, but may be sold externally through battery manufacturers, he said.

　　SES Power is very supportive of the Battery Resourcers action as it is an efficient use of lithium resources. We have nearly 20 years of experience in the lithium battery industry, and we have been exposed to the secondary utilization and recycling of lithium batteries very early, except for high-end customized products using square aluminum-shell lithium iron phosphate cells 12V100Ah, 12V200Ah, 24V100Ah, 24V200Ah, 36V100Ah , 48V50Ah, 48V100Ah, etc., such as 12V30Ah and 12V50Ah car starter batteries using high-performance rate lithium battery A123 (the maximum peak current can reach 1500A). However, the competition in this market is very fierce, and many customers are very concerned about cost performance. SES Power takes advantage of the price advantage of echelon batteries to make SES Power's customized lithium-ion battery packs on the basis of guaranteed performance to meet the needs of customers who are picky about prices. need. So, we naturally identify with their actions.

　　Battery Resources, which currently has pilot plants and R&D centers in Michigan and Massachusetts, will locate the new plant in Covington, Georgia, near an electric vehicle manufacturing center and a lithium-ion battery gigafactory. South Korean battery maker SK Innovation is also building two production plants in the state that will produce tens of gigawatt-hours of batteries a year.

　　Battery Resourcers, which raised $70 million in funding last September and $20 million in a Series B a year ago, will invest $43 million in the battery recycling facility being built in Georgia.

　　Georgia Governor Brian Kemp welcomed the decision, claiming that because of the state's leadership in electric vehicle manufacturing, Battery Resourcers' decision to build this battery recycling facility in Georgia will create more jobs in the state. Chance.

　　Battery Resourcers also plans to open multiple battery recycling facilities in Asia and Europe, and more in North America, hoping to process up to 150,000 tons of lithium-ion battery material per year.

　　The company claims that its recycled battery materials can compete with mined new materials in terms of sustainability, performance and cost. The company is developing a process for producing cathode active material, called Hydro-to-Cathode, that is more environmentally friendly than mining and producing cathode materials from raw materials, and at less than half the cost.

　　Michael O'Kronley, director and CEO of Battery Resources, said: "We need to combine the capacity of a gigafactory that produces millions of batteries with our own 'super recycling' facility that can recycle millions of batteries. The plant, which will be operating in Covington this summer, will be the largest battery recycling facility in North America, and we will develop and build a larger recycling facility than that. When preventing a lot of batteries from going directly to landfill, We are all winners."

　　Some battery storage projects require the storage developer or project owner to commit to decommissioning and disposing of equipment at the end of the project's life cycle, the company said. From this perspective, being able to sign battery recycling contracts is beneficial for the battery energy storage industry. For example, the process technology of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) batteries can create a difference between economics.

　　Li-ion battery recycling is also underway at Canada-based battery recycler Li-Cycle, which operates battery recycling facilities on the West Coast and South of the U.S., upstate New York, and Canada. Li-Cycle has also signed agreements with a number of battery manufacturers serving the battery energy storage industry, including recent agreements with LG Energy Solution and LG Chem to offtake metallic nickel.

　　Also operating battery recycling facilities in North America is Redwood Materials, led by former Tesla chief technology officer JB Straubel, which raised more than $700 million in investment last year. Straubel said in a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm at an event a few months ago that recycled battery materials are indeed cost-competitive with new materials.

　　Swedish battery maker Northvolt, which is building a 150GWh-a-year battery gigafactory in northern Europe, has also set up its own battery recycler, Revolt, and announced in November that it has made batteries from 100% recycled nickel, manganese and cobalt. . Revolt may expand its operations in the future, planning to process up to 125,000 tons of used batteries per year, equivalent to about 30GWh per year.

　　The U.S. government has recently emphasized the importance of sustainability and recycling in the battery supply chain, while the European Union plans to introduce recycled battery material requirements into battery regulations in the coming years.

　　The head of Finland’s state-owned energy developer Fortum said in June last year that the battery energy storage industry would become an important source of recycled batteries, which echoed a view expressed by Li-Cycle chief commercial officer Kunal Phalpher in an interview with industry media And fit.

　　SES Power believes that the in-depth utilization of lithium batteries has become the common recognition of the whole industry, but there are different views on what is the best choice for the use of lithium batteries. After the selection, priority will be given to the use of the energy storage system. Of course, this is based on being able to meet the demand standards of the energy storage system. After the decommissioning of the energy storage system, the decay curve of lithium batteries, especially lithium iron phosphate batteries, is quite flat. In fact, it can be reused in some uncommon backup systems or scenarios where a single cell is used, such as lamps and lanterns. Finally, when the capacity of the lithium battery is almost completely exhausted, it is suitable for final crushing and production of lithium battery raw materials.