Industrial park energy storage battery recycling

Is the battery-recycling industry on the cusp of change?

But where this shelf is located — in an unassuming industrial park an hour west of Boston — symbolizes how the battery-recycling industry is on the cusp of change. Today, key steps in the battery-recycling process mostly happen overseas, particularly in Asia.

What is the biggest battery recycling plant in Europe?

One of the biggest, the Belgian materials technology company Umicore, has operated a 7,000 t battery recycling plant since 2011 and announced in March that it hopes to build an enormous 150,000 t facility in Europe that will open in 2026.

Can battery recycling make electric vehicles more sustainable?

But environmental advocates see a huge opportunity in recycling. "Battery recycling can play, in the long run, a really big role in making electric vehicles more sustainable," says Dale Hall of the International Council on Clean Transportation. "Decades from now, we'll need very little new virgin raw materials to build new EVs.

Is recycling a sustainable option for EOL batteries?

Source: International Energy Agency, “Battery Demand by Region, 2016–2022,” last modified April 11, 2023. Recycling isn’t just a more sustainable option. It offers a vital way to recover precious resources within the EOL batteries, particularly cobalt, nickel, and lithium, which are destined to live again in new batteries.

Can reusing used batteries reduce the environmental impact?

Recyclers hope that reusing the lithium, nickel, and cobalt in used batteries will reduce the environmental impact of making new batteries. Some firms also hope to recover less-valuable materials, like copper or graphite, and they’re competing to show that their technologies use less energy or fewer chemical reagents than competitors do.

Could recycling lithium-ion batteries save the battery industry?

Overall, the process recovers 91% of the mass of all materials in the battery, the firm says. Recycling lithium-ion batteries could reduce the amount of mined cobalt, lithium, manganese, and nickel needed to make batteries. But the battery industry is growing so fast that much of the benefit wouldn't materialize until 2040 or later.