Li-Cycle today launched one of Europe’s largest lithium-ion battery recycling centers, and it can process full EV battery packs.
Li-Cycle in Germany
Toronto-headquartered Li-Cycle’s first European battery recycling center – what the company calls a “Spoke” – is in Magdeburg, Germany, northwest of Leipzig.
The Magdeburg Spoke’s first main processing line at the 20,000-square-meter (215,000-square-foot) facility is online and is capable of processing full EV battery packs. Its second main line is expected to launch later this year.
Each main line has the capacity to process up to 10,000 tonnes of Li-ion battery material annually.
The company says it has an “additional 10,000 tonnes of ancillary capacity planned.” So if that goes forward, then the Magdeburg Spoke (pictured above) would have a total capacity of 30,000 tonnes per year, which would make it one of the largest facilities of its kind in Europe.
Spokes and Hubs
Li-Cycle (NYSE: LICY) already has four Spokes: in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada; and in Rochester, New York, Gilbert, Arizona, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the US.
Including Magdeburg, Li-Cycle says it expects to have a total input processing capacity of up to 81,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material annually.
Li-Cycle’s Spokes produce an intermediate product called “black mass,” which includes such valuable battery materials as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. It plans to process the black mass the Spokes produce at its future “Hub” facilities. Its Hubs will process the materials into battery-grade end products for reuse.
The company’s first planned Hub facility, which was awarded a $375 million loan from the US Department of Energy in February, is under construction in Rochester and is expected to come online later this year.
Li-Cycle has said it will also develop a second commercial Hub in Europe – a 50/50 venture with Swiss mining giant Glencore. The two companies plan to repurpose part of an existing Glencore metallurgical complex in Portovesme, Italy, in Sardinia, to create what will be known as the Portovesme Hub.
A feasibility study for the Portovesme project is currently underway, and if it goes forward, it will be one of the largest sources of recycled battery-grade lithium, nickel, and cobalt in Europe.
