The First Plant to Recycle Lithium-Ion Batteries Is in the Works

A company based in Montreal, Canada is opening the first commercial plant dedicated to sustainably disposing of lithium-ion batteries in 2023 – with the ability to recycle the equivalent of around 20,000 electric and hybrid vehicle batteries each year!

“This plant will transform the batteries we receive into a black powder which contains all of the strategic materials of a battery,” says Benoit Couture, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lithion Recycling.

Once open, the plant should be able to recycle close to 7,500 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries per year. The company’s next step will be to build a hydrometallurgical plant – or a hub – destined to extract and purify the strategic materials from the black powder and build new batteries, contributing to a circular economy. Over time, recycling will play a growing part in the development of electric power supply to avoid extracting ore.