Li-Cycle to establish pre-processing plant in Alabama

The Canadian Li-Cycle will establish its third pre-processing plant in North America, with location in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The plant will have an initial capacity of 5,000 tonnes of batteries/battery scrap per year with ability to scale it to 10,000 tonnes.

Alabama is home to several car manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai. Mercedes-Benz will start to produce their electric EQ series in Tuscaloosa from 2022.

According to Li-Cycle the establishment is a response to an increased demand for their services that "far exceeds initial expectations". The chemical company Univar Solutions which has a special unit for hazardous waste management will be an anchor battery feed supply customer for the new facility, following on Li-Cycle’s previously announced on-site partnership with the company to provide waste management solutions for electric vehicle and lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

Li-Cycle which went public on NYSE in August, also presented the company's first earnings statement since its public listing. The report showed a production of 524 tonnes of black mass (equivalent to around 1,300 tonnes of waste battery feed) from the facilities in Kingston and Rochester, which indicates an annual rate of 5,200 tonnes of batteries.