RecycLiCo, a Canadian battery recycling company, has launched a joint venture with Taiwanese chemical giant Zenith Chemical to build a $25 million battery recycling plant in Taiwan. The 2,000 tonne per year plant will recycle lithium-ion batteries into components including lithium carbonate and lithium-ion cathode material. RecycLiCo will provide 40 per cent of its stake in cash, while Zenith will contribute 50 per cent of the $25 million in cash. The remaining 10 per cent will be used to licence RecycLiCo’s technology.
The technology’s patent has already been licenced in seven countries, with Taiwan being the eighth. The technology has a promising recovery rate of up to 99 per cent for critical minerals like lithium, nickel, copper, and manganese. Its closed-loop hydrometallurgical process includes multiple stages of leaching and precipitation with the company’s patented leaching solution. The closed loop enables the direct integration of the resultant chemicals into new battery materials on site. The process also consumes 62 per cent less carbon dioxide than other hydrometallurgical processes.
In March 2023, LG Energy Solution announced plans to invest $5.5 billion in the construction of a new battery manufacturing plant in the US. It would have two facilities: one for producing cylindrical batteries for electric vehicles and the other to manufacture pouch-type lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries for energy storage systems (ESS).
