Cirba Solutions invest $200M in expansion of Ohio plant

Cirba Solutions, formely Retriev Technologies, will invest $200M in their facility in Lancaster, Ohio to enable both pre-processing and material recovery of lithium-ion batteries with a output capacity of battery grade materials which we estimate to 60,000 tonnes on cell level.

The news come only two weeks after the companies announced a similar but smaller facility in Arizona.

The facility in Lancaster has already been one of the main pre-processing facilities in the US with a capacity of around 4,000 tonnes. The facility has also processed nickel metal-hydride batteries and alkaline batteries. With the investment which initially was announced by the White House as an example of investments following the Inflation Reducation Act (IRA).

Cirba Solutions is the result of a merger of Retriev Technologies which is the pioneer in the processing of lithium-ion batteries in North America, Heritage Battery Recycling which was started by the Heritage Group and Battery Solutions, the largest sorter and consolidator of waste batteries in the US. Compared to many other recycling companies in the US the group has today a vast collection network. The company has so far not been involved in the other end of the value chain but did in September announced joint venture with the cathode technology company 6K. The plan is that recycled materials from Cirba Solutions's plants will be used in cathodes applied with 6K's microwave plasma technology.

With the two plants in Ohio and Arizona Cirba Solutions will be one of the largest processor lithium-ion batteries in the US together with Li-Cycle, Redwood Materials and Ascend Elements.

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