LG Energy Solutions to build 20,000 tpa pre-processing plant in France with Derichebourg

Derichebourg is one of the largest car recyclers in France and operate a secondary aluminium smelter

LG Energy Solution (LGES), the South Korean battery producer which operates Europe's largest battery plant in Poland has partnered with the French waste and recycling company Derichebourg Group for form a joint venture focused on electric vehicle battery recycling. The facility will be built in Bruyères-sur-Oise, in the northern Paris region, with construction planned to begin in 2026 pending regulatory approvals. Commissioning is scheduled for 2027.

The plant is designed to handle over 20,000 tons of material annually. It will process end-of-life batteries and production scrap, including material from LGES’ manufacturing site in Poland. The project aims to support circular economy practices by reintegrating recycled materials into the battery production chain.

Derichebourg, which is one of the largest car recyclers in France, will contribute its experience in metal recycling and waste collection, while LGES will provide expertise in battery manufacturing and the associated value chain.

The plant will be the 68th European plant in CES Global Recycler Database, taking the pre-processing capacity in 2030 to 650,000 tonnes. This should be compared with 263,000 tonnes of estimated feedstock in 2030 in Europe.

The establishment is a good example of how the companies that are in control of their feedstocks, such as battery manufacturers, are building closer relationships with both recyclers and downstream processors. LGES is today using several suppliers of cathode material such as LG Chem, Posco, Ecopro and Umicore. The company already works closely with Posco which operate a pre-processing plant in a joint venture with its precursor supplier Huayou Cobalt in Poland.

LGES will from this year start to produce LFP cells in Poland and the company has secured a long-term supply agreement with Changzhou Liyuan New Energy Technology, a Chinese cathode material manufacturer based in Nanjing. Additionally, LG Chem, LGES's parent company and supplier of cathode material, has entered into a partnership with China's Huayou Group to construct an LFP cathode material plant in Morocco.