Toronto-based Li-Cycle has unveiled its first European battery recycling centre, known as a “Spoke,” located in Magdeburg, Germany. Covering an impressive 20,000 square meters, the facility’s first main processing line is now operational, with the ability to process full electric vehicle (EV) battery packs. Another main line is scheduled to commence operations later this year.
Each main line at the Magdeburg Spoke has an annual processing capacity of up to 10,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material. The company is also planning to add an “additional 10,000 tonnes of ancillary capacity.” If realized, this expansion would bring the total capacity of the Magdeburg Spoke to an impressive 30,000 tonnes per year, making it one of Europe’s largest facilities for recycling lithium-ion batteries.
Li-Cycle already operates four Spokes, located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, and in Rochester, New York, Gilbert, Arizona, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the United States. With the addition of the Magdeburg facility, Li-Cycle anticipates its total input processing capacity to reach up to 81,000 tonnes of lithium-ion battery material annually.
The Spokes primarily produce an intermediate product called “black mass,” which contains valuable battery materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The company intends to process the black mass at its future “Hub” facilities, where the materials will be transformed into battery-grade end products for reuse.
Li-Cycle’s first planned Hub facility, which secured a $375 million loan from the US Department of Energy in February, is currently under construction in Rochester and is expected to become operational later this year.
Furthermore, Li-Cycle is in collaboration with Swiss mining giant Glencore to establish a second commercial Hub in Europe. The proposed Portovesme Hub is planned to repurpose part of an existing Glencore metallurgical complex in Portovesme, Italy, Sardinia. A feasibility study is underway for the Portovesme project, which, if executed, will become one of the largest sources of recycled battery-grade lithium, nickel, and cobalt in Europe.