Librec inaugurates battery recycling plant in Switzerland

Librec has inaugurated its first industrial recycling plant for electric vehicle batteries in Biberist, Switzerland, for which a new hall was built on the site of a former paper factory. The plant will recycle 12,000 tons of electric car batteries per year.

The recycling plant in the canton of Solothurn was announced by Librec last summer, and now boasts a “previously unattained recovery rate of over 97%”. The plant recycles used vehicle batteries as well as rejects from battery production.

When the plant is working at full capacity, it will operate in three shifts. After delivery, the batteries are first completely discharged. Batteries ready for recycling are opened, connected to discharge technology and all remaining energy is extracted and used for the recycling plant. The company says this energy covers a third of the plant’s energy requirements, the rest comes from renewable energy produced on the plant’s rooftops.

Librec aims to recycle batteries from all manufacturers. Once their energy has been discharged, the batteries will be dismantled, shredded and dried. The resulting powder, known as black mass, can be used to produce new batteries.

After the processing of crushed batteries into black mass, critical raw materials such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, copper and aluminium can be fed back into the production of new batteries.

Until battery recycling plants come online in Europe, the bast majority of black mass can only be processed in China and South East Asia. The lack of regional facilities means that Europe is faced with stockpiling shredded batteries. With enough recycling capacity, critical raw materials can remain in regional loops of perpetual use, reuse and recycling.

“We are receiving very good feedback on our central recyclate, the so-called black mass, and can assume that we are currently producing the best black mass in Europe at the most attractive conditions and with maximum sustainability,” says Jodok Reinhardt, Managing Director of Librec.

While Librec’s initial focus is on Switzerland, the company is aiming for internationalisation. “Next, we want to consolidate our operations in Biberist and maximise capacity utilisation. Based on this experience, we will examine attractive partners for cooperation abroad and also our own projects abroad,” says Jürg Steiger, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Librec.

Incidentally, the same site in Biberist is also home to Libattion, which recently opened an upcycling facility for electric vehicle batteries.

erneuerbareenergien.de (in German)