AE Elemental Opens Advanced Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Facility in Poland

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EV battery industry leaders and local officials joined Elemental Strategic Metals and Ascend Elements in Zawiercie, Poland to celebrate the grand opening of Europe's newest lithium-ion battery recycling facility.

WESTBOROUGH, Mass. and ZAWIERCIE, Poland, Sept. 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- AE Elemental, a joint venture of U.S.-based Ascend Elements and Poland-based Elemental Strategic Metals, today celebrated the grand opening of its first commercial-scale EV battery recycling facility. Located in Zawiercie, Poland, the newly constructed facility can process 12,000 metric tons of used Li-ion batteries each year – or approximately 28,000 EV battery packs annually – making it one of the largest battery recycling facilities in Europe. Dozens of business and community leaders from Europe and North America attended the opening ceremony and toured the state-of-the-art facility.

As demand for electric vehicles continues to grow, lithium-ion battery recycling is becoming an increasingly important part of the EV battery materials supply chain. In the European Union (EU), new batteries will be required to contain a minimum amount of recycled content by 2030. Lithium-ion battery recycling also keeps hazardous battery materials out of landfills while minimizing the environmental impacts associated with nickel, cobalt and lithium mining.

"We have come significantly closer to becoming a global leader in the market of recycling materials necessary to produce EV batteries," said Michał Zygmunt, CEO of Elemental Strategic Metals. "As part of our contribution to the joint venture with a reputable American partner, we make available a state-of-the-art industrial downstream processing facility in Zawiercie and one of the most developed networks of waste collection points in Europe with broad knowledge and experience in the field of recycling and waste logistics." 

The AE Elemental facility will disassemble, discharge and shred EV batteries to produce black mass, which can be used to make new engineered EV battery materials, including cathode active material (CAM) and cathode precursor (pCAM). Commercial-scale lithium extraction capabilities will be added to the new facility in Fall 2024 to be operational by 2026.

"This is a significant milestone for Ascend Elements, representing our first commercial-scale battery recycling facility in Europe. We're pleased to be working closely with Elemental Strategic Metals in this beautiful facility," said Mike O'Kronley, CEO of Ascend Elements. "Expanding into Europe will allow us to better service our customers locally and help the industry comply with new EU rules requiring recycled material in new batteries."

Beyond Poland, the joint venture is planning to build Europe's largest lithium-ion battery recycling facility in Germany. The planned AE Elemental facility in Germany will have the capacity to recycle up to 25,000 metric tons of batteries per year, or approximately 58,000 EVs annually.

ABOUT ELEMENTAL STRATEGIC METALS: Elemental Strategic Metals is member of Elemental Group and operates a large, state-of-the-art multi-metal extraction facility in Poland focused on recovery of battery metals and platinum group metals. Elemental Group is a global leader in urban mining, with a focus on extracting strategic metals from various recycled metal sources such as spent automotive catalysts (SACs), waste electrical and electronic equipment, printed circuit boards (PCBs), used Li-Ion batteries, and non-ferrous scrap metal. The company recovers strategic metals such as platinum group metals, copper, and other base and precious metals in an environmentally friendly way. Elemental currently has subsidiaries in 35 countries on four continents (Europe, Asia, North America and Africa).

ABOUT ASCEND ELEMENTS: Based in Westborough, Mass., Ascend Elements is a leading provider of sustainable, closed-loop battery material solutions. From EV battery recycling to commercial-scale production of lithium-ion battery pCAM and CAM, Ascend Elements is revolutionizing the production of sustainable lithium-ion battery materials. Its Hydro-to-Cathode^® direct precursor synthesis technology produces new pCAM and CAM from spent lithium-ion cells more efficiently than traditional methods, resulting in improved economics and lowered GHG emissions. With fewer batteries going to landfill and a cleaner manufacturing process, Ascend Elements is lifting the lithium-ion battery industry to a higher level of sustainability.

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