Cylib breaks ground on 30,000 tpa battery recovery plant in Germany

The battery recycling startup Cylib has broken ground on its first full scale battery recycling plant in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The plant which will be able to process 30,000 tonnes of end-of-life batteries will be located in Currenta's Chempark Dormagen which is one of three industrial park enabling chemical industries to set up facilities.

The plant which will be based on Cylib's waterbased processing technology will be able to process both black mass from end-of-life batteries and black mass with recovery of both lithium and graphite as well as all other key elements in battery waste. Operations are planned to commence in 2026 with an expected 170 employees operating the plant.

If the time schedule is kept Cylib has the chance to be potentially the largest hydrometallurgical plant for waste batteries in Europe at the time and the first to recover both graphite and lithium.