Consortium backs German battery recycling plant

HC Starck Tungsten, a subsidiary of the Masan High-Tech Materials Group, is planning a recycling centre for lithium-ion batteries in the Harz region of Germany to be completed by 2030. 

It is part of a consortium that includes the companies LB.systems, Battery Damage Service, Electrocycling, Albemarle Germany and IVH Industriepark und Verwertungszentrum Harz. 

Scientific support is being provided by the TU Braunschweig, the TU Clausthal and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films.

The consortium covers the entire value chain from the collection and dismantling of batteries and production waste to mechanical, thermal and hydrometallurgical processing and the synthesis of new battery raw materials. 

Declaration of intent

According to Lower Saxony’s economics minister Olaf Lies, ‘The signing of the declaration of intent to set up a recycling centre for lithium-ion batteries is … a clear step in the right direction for value creation in the Harz region and for environmental protection. We must use resources in a long-term and sustainable manner. A relevant building block for this is that we jointly establish a functioning circular economy in Lower Saxony.’

Hady Seyeda, ceo of HC Starck Tungsten GmbH, says his company has decades of experience in the recovery of valuable raw materials and is ‘intensively involved’ in the battery sector. ‘We bring these skills to the consortium in order to further strengthen our business location through regional value chains for future markets.’

New joint facility

Meanwhile, BASF has opened what is claimed to be the first joint facility in Europe of battery material production alongside battery recycling. Events marked the

inauguration of the new production facility at Schwarzheide, Germany for high-performance cathode active materials and the battery recycling plant for the production of black mass. The company says the development represents important steps toward closing the loop for the European battery value chain from the collection of used batteries and the recovery of mineral raw materials to their use in the production of new battery materials.

‘We at BASF believe in the future of the chemical industry in Europe and in Germany and invest in innovative products and services for our customers in our home market,’ says Martin Brudermüller, chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF.