German OEM Mercedes has inaugurated Europe's first battery recycling plant with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process. The new facility is based in Kuppenheim, southern Germany.
The firm says that, unlike existing established recycling processes, the expected recovery rate of the mechanical-hydrometallurgical solution is more than 96pc. Raw materials including lithium, nickel and cobalt will be recovered in a way suitable for use in new batteries for future Mercedes BEVs.
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Mercedes’ technology partner for the battery recycling factory is Primobius, a joint venture between German engineering company SMS Group and Australian process technology developer Neometals.
The mechanical element of process sorts and separates plastics, copper, aluminium and iron in a complex, multi-stage process. The downstream hydrometallurgical process is dedicated to black mass, the active materials that make up the electrodes of battery cells.
Metals such as cobalt, nickel and lithium are extracted individually in a multi-stage chemical process. These recyclates are promised to be of battery quality and therefore suitable for use in the production of new battery cells.
“The innovative technology enables us to recover valuable raw materials from the battery with the highest possible degree of purity. This turns today's batteries into tomorrow's sustainable mine for raw materials,” says Joerg Burzer, member of Mercedes board of management responsible for production, quality and supply chain management.
Compared to other European facilities that use pyrometallurgy, the hydrometallurgical process aims to be less intensive in terms of energy consumption and material waste. Its low process temperatures of up to 80°C mean it consumes less energy.
The new Kuppenheim plant has an annual capacity of 2,500t, recovering sufficient material to feed into production of more than 50,000 battery modules for new all-electric Mercedes models. Production volumes can be scaled up in the medium-to-long term.
The plant is in receipt of funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs as part of a scientific research project with three German universities, although Mercedes has also stumped up an eight-figure-euro investment. The project looks at the entire process chain for recycling, including logistics and reintegration concepts.
“As a pioneer in automotive engineering, Europe's first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory marks a key milestone towards enhancing raw-materials sustainability,” says Ola Kallenius, chairman of Mercedes’ board of management.
“The future of the automobile is electric, and batteries are an essential component of this. To produce batteries in a resource-conserving and sustainable way, recycling is also key. The circular economy is a growth engine and, at the same time, an essential building block for achieving our climate targets,” adds German chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“Battery recycling is of great importance to Baden-Wuerttemberg as a state with such a strong automotive sector. Closing the loop on the value chain reduces dependencies, increases resilience in times of crisis and can smooth peaks and troughs in the availability of raw materials,” says Thekla Walker, minister for the environment, climate and energy for Baden-Wuerttemberg.
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