Battery recycling firm Li-Cycle Holdings has begun commercial operations at its Arizona Spoke facility in the US that will recover materials from used lithium-ion cells.
The Canada-headquartered firm’s Arizona Spoke facility uses proprietary technology to processes full EV battery packs without dismantling them manually.
The Arizona Spoke will produce black mass, consisting of lithium, cobalt and nickel, which Li-Cycle will convert into battery-grade materials at a separate Hub facility, which is under construction in Rochester, New York.
The company said Arizona presents a significant opportunity for lithium-ion battery recycling due to the emerging EV supply chain in the region, and its close proximity to large markets— such as California— which are expected to produce an increasing supply of end-of-life batteries from EVs, energy storage projects and consumer electronics.
Arizona governor Doug Ducey said the facility helped bolster the state’s robust EV supply chain and sends a signal that Arizona was the place to be for electric batteries.
Another facility in Alabama, using the same design as the Arizona Spoke, is scheduled to be operational in the Company’s third quarter of 2022.
When both the Arizona and Alabama Spokes are operational, Li-Cycle will have a total processing capacity of 30,000 tonnes per annum.
In January, the firm announced plans to increase the capacity of its the facility in Rochester from 25,000 tonnes to 35,000 tonnes of “black mass” annually (equivalent to around 90,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery equivalent feed annually).
By the end of 2023, the company expects to have a total of 65,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery processing capacity per annum, across its Spokes in North America and Europe.
