Battery recycler Ace Green Recycling signed an agreement to supply equipment and technology licensing with Hakurnas Lead Works Ltd to set up battery recycling facilities in Israel and Romania.
Ace Green, based in Singapore and Texas in the US, said the deal will progressively create 50,000 tons of lead battery recycling capacity per year, which translates to around $60 million of lead metal sales annually.
Financial details were not disclosed.
It added that Hakurnas of Israel is the Middle East’s leading secondary lead smelter. Over 60 years of operating in Israel, it has increasingly become one of the key lead suppliers to Europe and North America.
Ace’s recycling technology replaces the smelting furnace with operating temperatures of over 1,000°C and operates at room temperature on electricity. Ace claims its process has zero Scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions and reduces solid waste that goes to landfill by more than 80%.
It believes the process will “greatly enhance” Hakurnas’ profitability and minimise its operator and environmental risks.
Ace Green CEO Nishchay Chadha said: “Hakurnas has always been an innovative company and with this partnership, we see them as setting new benchmarks for lead battery recycling in Europe and the Middle East, thus leading the way for other battery recyclers in the region.
“This partnership agreement with Hakurnas is a natural fit for both companies’ continued commitment to ensuring global electrification is made not just profitable, but also sustainable.”
Ace will sell its proprietary equipment and chemicals to Hakurnas, and provide technical and engineering support for installation, commissioning and process optimisation.
Initial operations using Ace’s equipment are expected to start at the Hakurnas plant in Ashdod by Q4 2023. It is then planned to be scaled up in phases, as authorisations are granted.
The agreement also allows for further collaboration between the companies to utilise Ace’s proprietary lithium-ion battery recycling processes. The idea is to set up greenfield developments in Israel and Romania, again using Ace’s hydrometallurgical technology.
Farid Ahmed, Ace’s VP for global strategy and business development and a veteran of the international lead industry, said: “There is considerable value to both Hakurnas and Ace Green from early adoption of this radical technology in a developed country by an established and respected producer. Hakurnas has really done its homework and due diligence on our process, the capex and opex involved, and has come to the conclusion that our technology could be transformational to their performance whilst also delivering strong financial positives. Both companies see this technology as taking a central role in the evolution of the secondary lead industry.”
Photo: Ace Green CEO Nishchay Chadha: “Hakurnas has always been an innovative company and with this partnership, we see them as setting new benchmarks for lead battery recycling in Europe and the Middle East.”
