AE Elemental commissions 12,000 tpa pre-processing plant in Poland

AE Elemental, the joint venture between US-based Ascend Elements and the Polish e-waste company Elemental Holding has inaugurated its pre-processing plant in Zawiercie, Poland. The AE Elemental facility will disassemble, discharge and shred EV batteries to produce black mass. The company is also planning to add lithium extraction to the plant beginning in 2026. The plant is said to have a capacity of 12,000 tonnes of EV batteries which equates to about 8,000 tonnes on cell level.

The plant is part of a bigger complex which also includes processing of catalysts and e-waste has been under construction for more than three years and has been financed by

loan from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, EBRD of €25M in 2021 and €52M in 2022 and an equity investment of €290M from EBRD, IFC (the World Bank) and PFR (the Polish Development Fund). The original plans included pyro- and hydrometallurgical treatment of the batteries.

The plant is the first foothold for Ascend Elements in Europe. The company has for a long time had plans to enter Poland and has also had plans to open a UK facility. However currently the joint venture is planning to build another pre-processing plant in Germany with a capacity to recycle up to 25,000 metric tons of batteries per year which equates to about 17,000 tonnes on cell level.