Northvolt’s Revolt programme will establish its first pilot lithium-ion batteries recycling plant in Västerås, Sweden, in 2020.
A full-scale recycling plant at the Northvolt Ett gigafactory in northern Sweden will be set up by 2022.
Go deeper with GlobalData
As recycling capacity ramps up, Northvolt is targeting 50% recycled material in new cells by 2030.
“It is clear recycling batteries at end-of-life is critical to delivering a comprehensive model for sustainable lithium-ion batteries,” said Northvolt CEO, Peter Carlsson.
“With this programme Northvolt will be able to recover valuable materials from cells and return them to manufacturing flows. Recycling will reduce the need for mining raw materials, improve security of supply and lower the environmental footprint of Northvolt cells by reducing mining-related emissions.”
As a first move towards securing a European ecosystem for lithium-ion battery recycling, Northvolt will establish a pilot recycling plant in Västerås, Sweden, adjacent to Northvolt Labs manufacturing plant.
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataThe pilot site is anticipated to be online in 2020 and will serve as a platform for developing and validating the Northvolt recycling process. The facility will target an initial recycling capacity of 100 tons per year, handling NMC and NCA lithium-ion chemistries.
“The pilot plant will build on work undertaken over the last two years and provide us the necessary tools to take us to the next level – from research laboratories into the real-world,” added Northvolt chief environmental officer, Emma Nehrenheim.
“What we learn at the pilot plant will be key to optimising the design, build and ultimately the operation of a much larger capacity recycling plant which will be established at Northvolt Ett.”
Enabled by a full-scale recycling plant at Northvolt Ett, Northvolt is ultimately targeting a goal of 50% of material in new cells being drawn from recycled materials by 2030. This will be secured through a phased build-up in capacity, beginning with a first block to be operational in 2022 with capability to recycle around 25,000 tons of battery cells per year.
In preparation for this goal, during the last two years Northvolt has been developing methods for key processes required for recycling lithium-ion batteries.
Significant accomplishments have been secured through collaboration between Northvolt and researchers engaged with optimising a process design for hydro-metallurgical treatment at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
This process will be used to recover valuable metals from end-of-life batteries, including lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. The recycling programme is supported by EIT InnoEnergy.
Europe currently has battery recycling capacity of around 33,000 tons per year.
However, existing capacity is neither well-suited to effectively recover valuable metals found in lithium-ion batteries, or of sufficient capacity to handle the volumes of batteries which will be placed on the market as electrification ramps up.
Already in 2019, some 75,000 tons of batteries will reach end-of-life.
