LG Energy Solutions and Huyaou Cobalt in recycling joint venture

LG Energy Solutions, the world's second largest producer of lithium-ion batteries, has signed an MOU to establish a joint venture for recycling of production scrap and end-of-life batteries with China's largest cobalt producer, Huayou Cobalt.

The joint venture will establish a pre-treatment plant at LG Energy Solutions' plant in Nanjing, in China's Jiangsu Province where it will it will treat rejected batteries and other types of production scrap. The black mass will then be shipped Huayou's material recovery plant in Quzhou in the Zhejiang province. It is not clear whether the joint venture will have an impact on Huayou's current capacity.

LG Energy Solutions has together with its owner and material supplier LG Chem been signing and investing in several recycling partnerships lately. In North America the companies have invested in Canadian recycler Li-Cycle and in South Korea LG Chem recently established a joint venture with the aim to produce precursor material and recycle battery waste with Korea Energy Materials Company, KEMCO.

This is the third joint venture between LG companies and Huayou Cobalt with two previous JVs between LG Chem and the cobalt company, producing precursors and cathode materials. The idea with the current is to close the loop for production waste and produce cathode materials which will be again used at LG's plant in Nanjing.

Huayou Cobalt also has a recycling joint venture with LG Energy Solution's cathode material supplier POSCO, HyCycle, through which it has sourced production scrap from LG's plant in Poland.