KOCH INVESTS: Koch Charges Up with Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Company

September 29, 2021

Original article published in KOCH newsroom

Koch Strategic Platforms has announced a $100 million investment in Toronto-based Li-Cycle – the leading lithium-ion battery recycler in North America – to help meet the rapidly growing global demand to source and recycle critical and scarce battery-grade materials.

“KSP’s strategic investment in Li-Cycle will further fund and accelerate our growth as we scale our efficient and proven commercial lithium-ion recycling technology globally to grow in lockstep with our customers,” said Li-Cycle co-founder and CEO Ajay Kochhar.  “KSP has made significant investments in the energy transformation and the electrification of transportation, and we’re proud to partner with their team to leverage their expertise and this capital to continue to execute our global growth plan.”

WHAT IT MEANS: Improving the scale of lithium-ion battery recycling and recovery is critical to the transformation of the electric vehicle (EV) value chain, said KSP President David Park.

“Li-Cycle is a true leader in the space with proven innovative technology and a robust portfolio of customers and strategic partners,” Park added.  “We’re confident in Li-Cycle’s cutting edge technology ability to deliver growth and long-term value to shareholders and their stakeholders throughout battery supply chain.”

KOCH AS A LAB: KSP’s investment will enable Li-Cycle to tap into expertise across the enterprise, including Koch Engineered Solutions, which specializes in design, engineering, equipment, project management, service and analytics to help industrial customers improve operations through improved efficiency and safety and reduced waste and emissions.

KES and their Optimized Process Designs group are exploring opportunities to support the incremental global deployment of Li-Cycle’s Spokes – part of the company’s Spoke & Hub system to recycle lithium-ion batteries. The Spoke facilities process lithium-ion batteries into battery materials (a.k.a. black mass) and mixed copper/aluminum before they are processed at Hub facilities into battery-grade end products for reuse in lithium-ion production or other applications.

Li-Cycle will also benefit from Koch’s support for execution, operational readiness and supply procurement, as it gears up for the 2023 launch of its North American Hub facility in Rochester, New York.

THE BIG PICTURE: From cellphones to energy storage systems to electric vehicles, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are seemingly everywhere these days.

But once they reach the end of life, they often end up in landfills with valuable, non-renewable materials still inside, like nickel, cobalt and manganese.

KSP’s investment in Li-Cycle will support the company’s ability to address a growing addressable market in North America, Europe and Asia.