Major carmaker Mercedes-Benz has deepened its plans to expand operations in Europe’s lithium-ion battery recycling space with the order of a new hydrometallurgical plant to recover battery metals from black mass.
Mercedes signed the purchase order with Primobius, a battery recycling joint venture between Neometals Ltd and SMS group, which uses a patented lithium-ion battery recycling process, Neometals said in a press release on Wednesday January 10.
The hydrometallurgical refinery hub will be in Kuppenheim, Germany.
It follows Mercedes ordering a shredding plant from Primobius in August; the unit will transform electric vehicle (EV) batteries into black mass.
The purchase order, valued at approximately €18.8 million ($20.6 million), covers the fabrication, installation and commissioning of the hub. The unit will refine intermediate products generated from the 2,500 tonne per year shredding unit, which is still under construction.
Mercedes’ foray into lithium-ion battery recycling aims to cut resource consumption and establish closed-loop recycling of battery raw materials for the carmaker, the press release said.
The European Commission’s Critical Raw Materials Act aims to set battery recycling targets, but battery collection and transport both remain a challenge for economical and viable recycling for many companies, Fastmarkets understands.
Recovered materials — including lithium, nickel and cobalt — will contribute to the production of 50,000 battery modules for new Mercedes vehicles, the press release said.
More hydromets units to come?
Mercedes’ upcoming hydromet unit joins several other similar facilities under construction in Europe, including efforts from other major Europe-based companies such as chemicals supplier BASF, minerals firm Eramet and nuclear fuel company Orano.
“I believe we are going to see multiple large-scale hydromets start commissioning in 2030, and by 2035 they will be optimized,” Elliott Ethridge, vice president of Global Sales at major recycling firm Ecobat, told Fastmarkets in a recent interview.
“I think we are going to see a lot of capacity come online very quickly, because it’s a bit of an arms race right now, with the market becoming aware that this could be potentially a very valuable [business],” he added.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price and black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were at 47-52% on Wednesday, both down by 3 percentage points week on week from 50-55%.
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