Lease signed for India’s biggest battery recycling site

Plans for the largest battery recycling facility in India have moved nearer to fruition with a lease agreement for a site in Mundra, Gujurat.

The plant is being built by Ace Green Recycling which operates lithium and lead lead plants in India and Taiwan with the goal of expanding to the US, Europe, Israel and South Africa.

Ace is already recycling lithium-ion batteries, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistries since 2023. It has previously announced plans to establish 10 000 tonnes of LFP battery recycling capacity per year in India by 2026. This strategic deployment will be phased with the planned deployment of the company’s technology in Texas, USA.

Low emissions

Ace’s LithiumFirst technology recycles LFP batteries at room temperature in a fully electrified hydrometallurgical process producing no Scope 1 carbon emissions, and with zero liquid and solid waste. Commercial lithium is recovered at levels of around 75%, producing lithium carbonate of purities exceeding 99%, which is fed back into the battery materials value chain.

Ace also plans to recycle lead batteries at its Mundra recycling park. Its technology for lead batteries is said to be a more environmentally friendly alternative to legacy smelting operations, with its fully electric process producing zero Scope 1 carbon emissions.

First mover

‘Ace is strategically scaling our LFP battery recycling capacity to meet demand and support our growing customer base,’ says ceo Nishchay Chadha. ‘We plan to continue our focus on this market to build on our first-mover advantage. Our team recently visited battery recycling facilities in China, and we believe our LFP battery recycling technology to be more advanced despite a more mature and larger scale lithium-ion recycling ecosystem there.’

Mundra is near major ports handling over 10% of India’s maritime cargo so the new site will streamline the transportation of battery recycling feedstock and off-take products. When fully operational, Ace expects the facility to create up to 50 jobs in the local economy, bringing the company’s employment in India to more than 100.