BASF will build a prototype battery recycling plant in Schwarzheide, Germany, at the site of its existing cathode active materials plant. The prototype recycling plant will allow for the development of operational procedures and optimization of technology to extract lithium, nickel, cobalt and manganese from end-of-life lithium-ion batteries as well as off-spec material from cell producers and battery material producers.
The new plant is expected to open in early 2023. “With this investment in battery recycling, plus leading process technology for manufacturing of cathode active materials, we aim to ‘close the loop’ while reducing the CO2 footprint of our cathode active materials by up to 60 percent in total compared to industry standards,” said BASF Senior VP Dr. Matthias Dohrn.
Source: BASF