Neometals to partner with Mercedes-Benz on proposed German battery recycling plant
Neometals’ 50% owned subsidiary Primobious is partnering with Mercedes-Benz’ LICULAR to design and construct a battery recycling plant in Germany.
Neometals (ASX: NMT) has announced it will join forces with Mercedes-Benz subsidiary LICULAR GmbH on the design and construction of a proposed lithium-ion battery recycling plant in southern Germany.
The project will be carried out via battery recycling joint venture Primobius GmbH, established in mid-2020 between Neometals and German plant manufacturer SMS Group to commercialise an environmentally-friendly recycling solution for end-of-life and scrap lithium-ion-batteries.
The Primobius recycling process offers scalable, efficient, sustainable recycling which is capable of reducing the carbon dioxide footprint for participants in the lithium-ion battery supply chain.
Battery recycling foray
The new plant will be based at Mercedes’ operations base in Kuppenheim and will mark the German automaker’s foray into battery recycling, making it less reliant on raw material supplies in the future.
The recovered material will be fed back into the recycling loop to produce more than 50,000 battery modules for the Mercedes’ EQ (Electric Intelligence) range of vehicles.
Neometals expects the plant will have a nominal capacity of 2,500 tonnes per annum (or up to 10t/day) and will be built in two stages, with the first stage of mechanical dismantling commencing next year.
The cooperation agreement will be formalised between Primobius and LICULAR following negotiations under an earlier informal non-binding memorandum of understanding.
Talks progressing
Neometals managing director Chris Reed said he was pleased with how the talks with Mercedes were progressing.
“We are proud that one of the greatest names in the automobile industry has announced its intention to partner with Primobius and made a clear commitment towards sustainable battery recycling,” he said.
“Lithium battery recycling supports conservation of resources, decarbonisation and supply chain resilience and we are excited to assist Mercedes in its goal to re-use recovered materials.”
Sustainable strategy
The recycling plant project serves as a key element of Mercedes’ sustainable business strategy, with a commitment to carbon dioxide neutrality and a focus on an all-electric vehicle line-up.
The company said last week that a “closed loop of recyclable materials” would be crucial to reducing resource consumption.
“With our new recycling plant at Kuppenheim, we are increasing the recycling rate to more than 96% while expanding our expertise in the area of battery value creation,” Mercedes stated.
“Through targeted collaborative ventures with high-tech partners in China and the US, we are globalising our battery recycling strategy and taking a decisive step toward closing the recycling loop in e-mobility.”