State owned energy firm Fortum has expanded its lithium-ion battery recycling operations with the opening of a recycling processing plant in Ikaalinen, Finland, this month.
The mechanical recycling process has been designed to shred EV batteries and separate the metals to create a black mass.
This black mass is then delivered to Fortum’s existing hydrometallurgical pilot facility in Harjavalta, Finland, where a hydrometallurgical process is used to create new recycled raw materials that can be used in new battery products
The facility will enable Fortum to increase its annual recycling capacity to around 3,000 tonnes of used batteries, or about 10,000 EV batteries.
Tero Holländer, head of business line batteries at Fortum, said the company aims to steadily increase this capacity in the coming months and years to bridge the raw materials gap faced by the automotive industry with the electrification of transportation.
He said: “Providing recycled and sustainable raw materials for batteries will bring significant value not only to our partners and customers but also to Finland’s battery industry, which is well poised to take the lead in the supply chain for EV batteries.”
Fortum’s recycling approach includes mechanical and hydrometallurgical methods to reach a recovery rate of up to 95% of the metals included in the valuable active materials of a battery’s black mass.
According to a forecast by the International Energy Agency, the number of electric vehicles on the world’s roads will increase from three million to 125 million by 2030.
Fortum bought out Finnish hydrometallurgical lithium-ion battery recycler Crisolteq in January 2020, as it positioned itself a key player in the recovery of high value lithium-ion battery materials, including nickel and cobalt, in Europe.