Umicore invests Euro 25 million in battery recycling

Archiv – Belgium | The world’s largest precious metals recycler Umicore is to build an industrial-scale recycling facility for end-of-life rechargeable batteries at Hoboken, Belgium. The investment will enable Umicore to deal with the expected growth in the availability of end-of-life lithium-ion, lithium-polymer and nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries.Belgium | The world’s largest precious metals recycler Umicore is to build an industrial-scale recycling facility for end-of-life rechargeable batteries at Hoboken, Belgium. The investment will enable Umicore to deal with the expected growth in the availability of end-of-life lithium-ion, lithium-polymer and nickel metal hydride rechargeable batteries. The plant will require an investment of Euro 25 million and is expected to become operational in the first half of 2011. Its initial annual capacity will be 7000 tonnes – equivalent to approximately 150 000 hybrid electric vehicle batteries or 250 million mobile phone batteries.
According to Umicore, the use of such batteries is set to grow substantially, particularly as a result of the increasing numbers of hybrid electric vehicles. Increasingly stringent legislation is also placing a heavy premium on the efficient and eco-friendly recycling of end-of-life materials, such as used batteries. Umicore currently operates a small-scale facility which treats spent batteries that come primarily from portable electronic equipment such as mobile phones and lap-top computers.
The new operation will use Umicore’s proprietary and patented Ultra High Temperature Smelting technology. According to the company, this breakthrough recycling process offers high metal yields and a drastic reduction of carbon dioxide emissions when compared to primary production of cobalt and nickel. Furthermore, the process is claimed to be significantly more energy efficient than any other battery recycling process and guarantees that no hazardous dioxins or other volatile organic compounds are released into the environment.
Currently, the process allows for the recycling of cobalt, nickel, copper and other metals and is fully in line with Umicore’s strategy of closing the materials loop. The scale-up of this Ultra High Temperature Smelting technology will also enable the company to test its suitability for recycling new streams of materials: for example, Umicore is working on developing a capability to recycle lithium for reuse in lithium-ion batteries, which are widely expected to become the battery of choice for hybrid electric vehicles.

For more information: www.batteryrecycling.umicore.com/