Lithium-ion battery recycler SungEel HiTech has agreed to include a tailored recycling process from the Australian graphite firm Ecograf to recover the carbon anode materials in their proposed new recycling plants in Europe and South Korea.
The partnership will evaluate the ability for Ecograf’s proprietary purification process to recover and re-use high-purity carbon anode material from scrap batteries and ‘black mass’ produced at SungEel’s South Korean plant.
The collaboration supports Ecograf’s decision to start the engineering design for a modular pilot plant, and follows positive analysis of the recovered carbon anode material, which will include electrochemical test work.
The pilot plant has been designed to deliver sufficient material to enable commercial qualification of the recovered carbon anode material for both the lithium-ion battery and industrial markets.
As part of the partnership, SungEel will provide black mass for the pilot plant for the product qualification phase and will review its co-investment in the piloting process once the initial engineering design is completed and costing estimates made available.
The partnership includes both companies undertaking co-marketing and co-promotion by continuing to introduce battery partners to collaborate and support the evaluation of the recovered anode material, including the EcoGraf’s blended anode material back into the battery supply chain.
Ecograf says the collaboration provides a clear path to commercialise its recycling process with a major Asian lithium-ion battery recycling company with an expanding global network of pre-treatment plants to cater to growth in recycling demand.
SungEel, through their South Korean hydrometallurgical plant, produces 6,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery materials per year, with plans to increase to 18,000 tonnes per year.
