Well positioned in the heart of Europe
Mass global adoption of electric vehicles is now a certainty and will drive greater demand for LIBs, for expansion of existing cell making capacity and for new cell manufacturing. It will also generate enormous demand for battery raw materials. If these materials are sourced from new mine production, they will carry a significant carbon footprint. If a portion of these materials are sustainably and ethically sourced from small carbon footprint battery recycling operations, the overall EV industry footprint will be reduced. In time, the proportion of recycled materials used in battery manufacturing should increase as the volume end of life batteries increases.
After the successful test trials Primobius has put the demonstration plant in Hilchenbach into commercial operations. In Germany - the geographic centre of Europe and its EV and battery supply chains - Primobius is now offering its first disposal recycling services.
Primobius opening ceremony
Commercial disposal services ready to start
On March 28th, Primobius took another important step with a grand opening event. The two joint venture partners, Neometals and SMS group, had invited guests from politics, business and the media to an official ceremony in which they gave the go-ahead for commercial operation of the battery recycling plant starting in May 2022.
The commercial Shredding Plant, which has a capacity of 10 tons per day, was purposely built to take account of the demand in supply chains for closed loop recycling and domestic supply chain resilience sought by LIB manufacturers, and others, in Europe.
Primobius Recycling Location
The SMS group Hilchenbach manufacturing facility covers a total of 40,000 m2 and ranks among the most modern anywhere in the world.
A dedicated 2,000 m2 facility houses the Primobius recycling plant. Commercial-scale battery shredding equipment has been integrated with proprietary-design beneficiation and refining circuits. The integrated facility in Hilchenbach provides the opportunity for vehicle, battery and consumer electronics manufacturers to observe the Primobius’ process safely dispose of hazardous LIBs and generate re-usable materials for the production of new batteries and other goods.
In addition Primobius is planning to build a number of large-scale commercial facilities. The location for the first of these, in Germany, is the subject of a detailed site selection process. The feasibility assessment of the first commercial operation has started and will incorporate the conclusions from operation of the demonstration plant.
