The recycling system currently established at SMS group’s Hilchenbach location is the first plant built by Primobius. It enables the company to give live demonstrations of the process. The system will generate product evaluation samples for acceptance and offtake agreements. So far, it has been used to prepare feasibility data and to assist with process optimization.
The commercial Shredding Plant was built to take account of the demand in supply chains for closed loop recycling and domestic supply chain resilience. In Europe, Primobius is awaiting the imminent receipt of a federal emission permit from German authorities to enable the shredding plant operations at a maximum battery input rate of 10 tonnes per day.
Sharp rise of demand anticipated
Commercial operation is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2022. Potential customers of the disposal services include battery cell manufacturers, the automotive industry, consumer electronics producers and many others.
The plant’s location was chosen deliberately:
“Germany has the advantage of having a good infrastructure and being centrally located in Europe, which really suits us from a logistical perspective. Having said that, we also anticipate a sharp rise in demand for recycling solutions as the electromobility sector continues to boom and we initially have a head start with production scrap, only then to be deluged with vast quantities of spent batteries,” is how Prof. Hans Ferkel sums it up.
Manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries are required by law to take back and recycle end-of-life batteries. At present, this target is often missed. Historically, many of the batteries ended up in landfill sites or were fed back into inefficient recycling processes based on smelting batteries. These were only able to recover a small portion of the constituent materials. Primobius is planning the commercial operation of the first Shredder Plant from the Hilchenbach location. This offers customers the opportunity to dispose of their lithium-ion batteries in a sustainable way.
Preparing for Black Mass exploitation
Any residual charge in the batteries can be removed at two unloading stations integrated in the process. Dismantling work required for larger modules will be performed at newly set-up stations before the individual cells are removed and shredded. The final products resulting from the mechanical comminution and beneficiation is a mixed material fraction consisting of copper, aluminum, and different plastic parts. Following the principles of a circular economy, these materials can be returned back to the market.
The balance of the active battery material is then ready for sale or refining. This intermediate product of the Shredding Plant is called Black Mass. It is likely to be sold until it can be accepted for further processing by a Primobius commercial Refining Plant. Black Mass contains valuable materials such as nickel, cobalt, lithium and manganese. The hydrometallurgical section of the Refining Plant in Hilchenbach will continue to be operated on a demonstration scale. The process can be further developed with customers in the future.
