Li-Cycle to operate battery recycling facility at Ultium Cells factory in Ohio

February 9, 2022

Original article published in Charged 

Battery recycling firm Li-Cycle expects to begin operating a battery recycling facility in Warren, Ohio in early 2023 as part of its hub-and-spoke model.

Li-Cycle will install and operate its proprietary Spoke technology and equipment on the site of the Ultium Cells battery manufacturing megafactory, which is currently under construction. Its output will be black mass—a powder-like substance composed of lithium, cobalt and nickel. The stuff will then be transported to a Hub facility in Rochester, New York, which is slated for completion in 2023, for conversion into battery-grade materials.

Li-Cycle says operating on the site of Ultium’s factory will lower the cost of moving and handling battery manufacturing scrap. The facility will be optimized to handle specific kinds of battery manufacturing scrap produced at the factory.

This will be the company’s sixth and largest Spoke facility, and will be capable of processing up to 15,000 tons of battery materials and scrap per year, which could raise Li-Cycle’s global recycling input capacity to 55,000 tons per year.