Fortum plans new pre-processing facility in Germany

Fortum Battery Recycling, part of the finnish energy group Fortum, is considering to open a new pre-processing plant in Thuringia in Germany. The facility that will produce black mass will be the second in Germany and the third plant feeding in materials to the company's hydrometallurgical facility in Harjavalta, Finland.

The company is currently not disclosing more details besides an estimated stoff of 70 and that the probable location will be in the area of Artern. Fortum started the operation of a similar facility in Kirchardt, 4 hours from Artern, where 3,000 tonnes of waste batteries can be pre-treated before transportation to Harjavalta.

The new facility would be located less than 40 minutes from CATL's newly commissioned battery plant in Erfurt. CATL publicly stated in June that the company is planning several recycling facilities in Europe in cooperation with a local player.