Establishment of a regional recycling center for lithium-ion batteries

Goslar, GERMANY, June 28, 2023 – H.C. Starck Tungsten GmbH, a subsidiary of Masan High-Tech Materials Group, is planning to establish a recycling center for lithium-ion batteries in the Harz region together with partners. To this end, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday in Hanover in the presence of Lower Saxony’s Economics Minister Olaf Lies.

Besides H.C. Starck Tungsten, the consortium includes LB.systems GmbH, Battery Damage Service GmbH, Electrocycling GmbH, Albemarle Germany GmbH and IVH Industriepark und Verwertungszentrum Harz GmbH. Scientific support is provided by Braunschweig University of Applied Sciences, Clausthal University of Applied Sciences, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films (Fraunhofer IST) based in Braunschweig.

The consortium, including the research institutes, is envisioned as a competence network covering the entire value chain from collecting and dismantling used batteries and production waste through mechanical, thermal, and hydrometallurgical processing to the synthesis of new battery raw materials. Involved partners aspire to build the necessary industrial-scale facilities between 2024 and 2030.

The impetus for knowledge and technology transfer was provided by the Recycling Cluster for Economically Strategic Metals (REWIMET e. V.) and the Lower Saxony Automotive Agency, which is supporting the project on behalf of the Lower Saxony Ministry of Economics, Transport, Building and Digitalization.

Minister of Economics Olaf Lies stated, “The signing of the memorandum of understanding for establishing a recycling center for Li-ion batteries is a great success – not only for Lower Saxony as a business location, which the project naturally supports, but also for the Harz region as a hub for value creation in the field of environmental protection. Resources must be used sustainably and with a long-term perspective. Establishing a functioning circular economy in Lower Saxony is a relevant building block in achieving this objective.”

Dr. Hady Seyeda, CEO of H.C. Starck Tungsten, adds, “We have decades of experience in the recovery of valuable raw materials and are intensively involved in the battery sector. Bringing these competencies to the consortium will further strengthen our region as a future-oriented business location.”

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