Lithium battery recyclers plan new Europe expansions despite tough market conditions

The economic viability in running lithium-ion battery recycling operations has suffered this year, with prices for battery metals declining significantly, according to market sources.

For example, Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea averaged $10.56-11.33 per kg in the month of November 2024 to date, down sharply from $19.91-21.32 per kg one year before.

“The market is in a dip, and my question is when it will rebound. [It] will take off, but not so soon as we would have liked,” Nils Steinbrecher, managing director of Korean-owned recycler SK tes EMEA, said.

“Margins have taken a hit, and the feedstock prices have not gone as low as the commodity prices,” Chetan Jain, senior vice president of business development at major Indian recycler Lohum, said.

In the wake of the economic difficulties, major recycling European market participants such as large minerals firm Eramet, chemicals giant BASF and major metals producer Umicore have either delayed or cancelled their expansions into battery recycling markets over recent months.

But there is significant growth in volumes of scrap batteries expected in the coming years, Fastmarkets research data shows.

While the total supply of battery scrap and end-of-life batteries in Europe is forecast at 96,000 tonnes in 2024, that is forecast to rise to 252,000 tonnes in five years’ time, according to Fastmarkets’ research team.

Ecobat Solutions

One firm that has been busy opening lithium-ion battery recycling plants over the last year is major lead acid battery recycler Ecobat.

Its lithium battery shredding plant in Hettstedt, Germany, has been operational since 2023, and the company targets its shredding capacity will exceed 10,000 tonnes per year in the coming years, Tom Seward, EU key accounts director, Ecobat Solutions, said on Monday November 25.

Ecobat Solutions also set up a battery shredding pant in Arizona, US, as of 2023.

Ecobat’s UK lithium-ion battery pre-treatment plant in Darlaston, in the West Midlands, is currently being commissioned and will have a total planned input capacity exceeding 22,000 tonnes per year, according to Seward.

The company remains committed to producing black mass and not further refining the material, Seward said. The approach is consistent with plans laid out by former Ecobat Solutions vice president of global sales, Elliott Ethridge, in a Fastmarkets interview published in January 2024.

SungEel HiTech

South Korean recycling major SungEel HiTech was represented at the event by Soochul Park, managing director of SungEel Europe & Hungary.

Following the company’s recent expansion of hydrometallurgical capacity with the opening of its third hydro center in South Korea earlier this year, it is planning to further expand across Europe, Park said.

SungEel HiTech already operates pre-processing shredding plants for recycling lithium-ion batteries in Hungary and Poland, but the company is actively looking to expand into post-treatment refining capacity on the continent.

“The European Union will restrict black mass exports, so we will need to set up [hydrometallurgical capacity] in Europe,” he said.

SungEel could need as many as three hydrometallurgical post-treatment plants in Europe over the coming years, according to Park, with countries such as Hungary, Germany and France under consideration.

European Commission lawmakers have proposed a reclassification of black mass and lithium-ion battery scrap under waste codes, which is expected to halt exports of the materials from Europe to non-Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries once implemented.

Although South Korea as an OECD member country can legally import hazardous waste black mass, the Basel notification process can be time-consuming and costly, according to market participants.

Most producers of black mass in Europe are categorized as makers of hazardous waste material. Difficulty and expense in moving the material means they generally attract lower payables than material classified as product-spec black mass.

Fastmarkets’ latest assessments of the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price and the black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were 55-62% on Wednesday November 20, both unchanged since October 30.

Huayou Recycling

Chinese cobalt giant Huayou is another major company looking to make a splash with new western recycling capacity, Wei Zhang, managing director Europe and North America, Huayou Recycling, said on Tuesday November 26.

The company already has a major recycling operation in China with around 65,000 tonnes of input capacity for batteries, with capability to make 12,000 tonnes of nickel and cobalt sulfate, he said.

Huayou operates precursor cathode active materials (P-CAM) and CAM production in China and is building a CAM production site in Hungary.

It is also part of the joint venture which set up and operates the POSCO HY Clean Metal hydrometallurgical post-treatment plant in South Korea, which started commercial production in 2023.

But Huayou is also in discussions to set up hydrometallurgical post-treatment capacity for black mass in Europe, according to Zhang, with a decision on how the company will proceed expected by next year.

“The goal is not possible [currently] in Europe for a fully integrated system,” Zhang said, but he added that any upbuild in capacity would certainly require partnerships with local European companies.

“The recycling market still remains challenging, but there are opportunities,” he said. “If we do something here in Europe, we would like to be careful and serious.”

Huayou is also looking to set up black mass refining operations in the US, but timeframes on that were less clear, Zhang added.

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