The partners behind a US-Korean battery recycling joint venture have named New York State as the site for their first lithium-ion recycling plant.
SungEel MCC (SMCC) a joint venture between South Korean battery recycling firm, SungEel HiTech, and American commercial recycling group Metallica Commodities Corp (MCC), said the plant will be built at the Huron Campus in Endicott, New York.
The Endicott facility will have the capacity to recycle 5,000 metric tonnes (MT) of spent lithium-ion batteries every year, the companies said.
SMCC said it will attract incentives worth more than US$1.75 million for the project from New York State— and create more than 100 research, engineering, and manufacturing jobs.
“We are excited to be at the forefront of lithium-ion battery recycling in the United States,” said SMCC president and Metallica Commodities COO Danish Mir.
“We look forward to leveraging the region’s educational institutions, technological resources, and manufacturing tradition to add to the incredible progress New York State has made in energy storage technology.”
SMCC estimates that less than 5% of all lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are currently recycled in the US, where consumption of both cobalt and lithium— among the most valuable metals in LIBs— has outpaced supply in recent years.
SungEel HiTech is one of the few major recyclers of LIBs worldwide, and is currently expanding its processing capacity from 8,000MT to 32,000MT, to keep pace with rising consumption of LIBs, driven by the electric vehicle battery market.