H C Starck Tungsten-lead consortium plans German recycling center for lithium-ion batteries

H.C.Starck Tungsten GmbH, a subsidiary of the Masan High-Tech Materials Group, is a leader of a consortium ,planning to set up a recycling center for lithium-ion batteries in the German Harz region. The consortium which includes LB.systems, Battery Damage Service, Electrocycling GmbH, Albemarle Germany and IVH Industriepark und Verwertungszentrum Harz GmbH has signed a letter of intent with the state of Lower Saxony.

The consortium, which is supported by TU Braunschweig, die TU Clausthal und das Fraunhofer Institut für Schicht- und Oberflächentechnik (Fraunhofer IST) covers the entire value chain from the collection and dismantling of batteries and production waste to mechanical, thermal and hydrometallurgical processing and the synthesis of new battery raw materials.

The plan is to start to develop and build necessary facilities from 2024 with completion at full scale planned for 2030. No information has been shared about capacity or technology.

H.C.Starck Tungsten is a subisidariy of the Masan High-Tech Materials Group. The company has for more than100 years produced high-quality powders from tungsten. Recycling is a integrated stage of the company's process and recycled materials are extracted from all kinds of tungsten containing productions and from production scrap. In China several tungsten producers are also active in cobalt refining and several have moved into battery materials of which XTC, which recently partnered with Orano in France to build battery materials plants, is the most well known.