Fortum to expand hydrometallurgical recycling plant in Finland

Fortum which since 2017 has been active in the lithium-ion battery recycling will invest 24 MEUR in an expansion of their hydrometallurgical recycling plant in Harjavalta in Finland to an capacity which "enable Fortum to recycle the major part of the EV batteries reaching their end-of-life in Europe”.

Fortum today operates a "industrial-scale hydrometallurgical pilot plant" in Harjavalta which Circular Energy Storage has estimated to have an capacity of less than 1,000 tonnes. The now announced investment indicates a capacity between 5,000 and 10,000 tonnes per annum, in cell equivalent materials. The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2023.

Fortum announced in January this year that the company is setting up a 3,000 tpa pre-processing plant for EV batteries in Ikaalinen, two hours from Harjavalta.

Harjavalta is also the where BASF is building a new precursor plant and Nornickel a plant for nickel refining. The three companies signed a MOU in March 2020 on a close partnership in battery recycling.

The energy company Fortum which since 2017 has been active in the lithium-ion battery recycling will invest 24 MEUR in an expansion of their hydrometallurgical recycling plant in Harjavalta in Finland to an capacity which "enable Fortum to recycle the major part of the EV batteries reaching their end-of-life in Europe”.

Read Fortum's press release here.