Dubatt Battery Recycling has broken ground on a AED110-million ($30 million) plant in Dubai that will recycle 35% of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) total scrap lead-acid battery market.
Plans also include setting up a lead-acid battery production plant within two years as part of the firm’s vertical integration and expansion goal to manufacture ‘Made in UAE’ batteries.
The company— a joint venture between Regency Group for Corporate Management and Seashore Group was established last July— is building the 70,000-sq-ft, fully integrated plant at Dubai Industrial City.
The Dubatt plant will start with a 10 tonne/hour battery breaker, 4-cu-m smelter and four refinery kettles.
Initial plans will see it recycle up to 25,000 metric tonnes of lead-acid batteries annually to produce 14,000 tonnes of lead ingots and 1,750 tonnes of plastic chips that will be, in part, sold to battery manufacturers.
The plant machinery and technology were provided by FIB SPA, part of SERI Group Italy.
The plant is scheduled to be fully operational by January 2023.
Hasique Pandikadavath, director of Dubatt, said: “A study we undertook found that the UAE produces approximately 6,000 metric tonnes of batteries per month and globally battery scraps are not processed in an environment friendly manner.
“We aim to enhance the efficient repurposing of batteries by sourcing it from the market, collaborating with major battery traders, scrap traders, car dealerships, garages, and government authorities.”
The group is also looking at a technology partnership with FAAM Italy, a division of SERI Group Italy, for manufacturing new advanced lithium-ion batteries to power electric vehicles and other applications.
