Along with Mercedes in Germany Battery recycling project takes off..

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) is funding the development of a holistic approach to recycling lithium-ion batteries with €16.66 million. As part of the LiBinfinity project, a pilot recycling plant is being built at the Mercedes-Benz facility in Kuppenheim to enable efficient recycling management of battery materials.

The funding will be consumed by Licular GmbH. Licular GmbH is a joint venture of Mercedes-Benz Group AG and Daimler Truck Holding AG - the parts of the former Daimler AG, which now operate independently, had announced the founding of  Licular in the report on the spin-off and separation. In addition to Licular's  participation, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler Truck also have a direct stake in LiBinfinity , while the project partner are included Primobius, the SMS Group as KIT, TU Clausthal, and TU Berlin.

Within the framework of the project, a mechanical-hydrometallurgical process will be developed, which, according to the BMWK announcement, completely dispenses with energy-intensive process steps.. In the process, the battery is disassembled and pre-sorted: aluminum, like the battery casing, can be directly reprocessed. Materials that cannot be easily separated mechanically are broken back into the original materials with the help of water and chemicals. This applies, for example, to cathodes and anodes, where not only the active materials have to be separated from the carrier foils, but also valuable raw materials such as lithium, nickel, cobalt or carbon have to be reprocessed. manganese depending on the type. Much higher recycling rates can be achieved with the hydrometallurgical process than with the pyrometallurgical process, ie the energy-intensive meltdown of the cell.

However, LiBinfinity intends to go beyond the mere reprocessing of the material. A fully comprehensive approach is being developed, from the development of logistics concepts to the reintegration of recycling into the battery lifecycle .

With the ministry's announcement, other key facts about the Kuppenheim pilot plant are now known: it will have an annual capacity of 2,500 tons . Until now, Mercedes had only confirmed rumors that it was planning a pilot recycling plant in Kuppenheim, but had not given any details about the scope. It remains to be seen whether the subsequent larger-scale recycling factory will also be built in Kuppenheim. According to previous information, it will be built in another place for reasons of space.

The project partners want to use recycling not only to increase the sustainability of the batteries, but also to prepare for future goals. According to the BMWK, the targets proposed by the European Commission under the EU battery regulation (which is still being voted on in the European trilogue procedure) "will lead to large investments in new recycling capacities and technologies" . From 2031, for example, recycling fees will apply to large traction and industrial batteries. This means that a certain minimum amount of recycled cobalt, lithium and nickel must be used in new lithium-ion battery production .

"In the form of battery production, are made closed cycle of raw material is our goal , and the traction battery reused in  cars after the first battery used  and recycle the end of  the product as well to used properly . This increases the ecological benefits of electromobility, reduces European dependence of raw materials and takes into account social concerns in the value chain" , says Michael Kellner, Parliamentary Secretary of State for the BMWK. "To achieve the capability of estabilishing recycling  and recovering  raw material by developing innovative process from lithium-ion batteries are critical and we are promoting the given projects."