Finnish battery recycler Fortum Corporation said it set up a German subsidiary, Fortum Batterie Recycling GmbH, to provide electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling in central Europe.
It said it is ‘a major step forward’ in its ambition to become Europe’s top recycler of EV batteries and battery materials. The new company will address the European automotive and battery manufacturing industry’s rising demand for battery raw materials.
The new recycling hub for end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and waste from battery manufacturing is expected to start operations by the end of 2022. It will be sited in Kirchardt in the industrial cluster at Baden-Wurttenberg in southern Germany.
Tero Holländer, Head of Business Line, Batteries, said: “For now, our recycling operations will create approximately 20 jobs in the near future. However, the full impact of the hub will be much broader as a result of its connection to our hydrometallurgical recycling facility located in Finland, where a major part of the European EV batteries reaching their end-of-life could be recycled as of next year.”
The battery black mass obtained will be recycled at Fortum’s hydrometallurgical recycling facility in Harjavalta, Finland, from where it can be fed back to the European battery value chain. “If you imagine that for a fully electric car lithium-ion battery, you need approximately 50 kg of nickel, 8 kg of lithium and 7 kg of cobalt, you start to comprehend the size of the challenge of the raw materials shortage in Europe,” he added.
Holländer said they can recycle over 80% of the battery, and 95% of the valuable metals contained in the battery’s black mass can be put back into circulation.
Photo: Tero Holländer said at ICBR 2022 Fortum aims to become Europe’s top recycler of EV batteries and battery materials
