Chemetall Lithium receives pilot plant funding

Archiv – Germany | The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has awarded Euro 5.7 million (US$ 8.3 million) to Rockwood Holdings Inc. subsidiary Chemetall Lithium to establish a pilot plant for recycling lithium ion batteries.Germany | The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety has awarded Euro 5.7 million (US$ 8.3 million) to Rockwood Holdings Inc. subsidiary Chemetall Lithium to establish a pilot plant for recycling lithium ion batteries. ’Chemetall will contribute additional funds so that the total investment will exceed 10 million Euros,’ according to Steffen Haber, President of the company’s lithium division.
Chemetall is part of a consortium of companies participating in LithoRec, a comprehensive research and development project concerned with the recycling of lithium ion batteries. As only a relatively small number of electric vehicles have entered the market, there is limited knowledge and expertise relating to the collection and recycling of large lithium ion batteries; and currently, there is no process for recycling automotive batteries from electric cars, and notably for recovering lithium from cathode material and electrolytes.
In this context, LithoRec’s main goal is the development and approval of recycling technologies for lithium ion batteries from electric cars. The consortium will address the entire life-cycle of a battery, starting with a recycling-friendly battery design through to final recovery of battery materials that can be used in the production of new batteries.
Project partners include: Audi AG, Chemetall, Electrocycling, Evonik Litarion, Walch Recycling & Edelmetallhandel, H. C. Strack GmbH, I+ME ACTIA, Recylex, Süd-Chemie AG, Volkswagen AG, and Technische Universität Braunschweig Universität Münster.