Li-Cycle opens Alabama facility

Li-Cycle Corp., headquartered in Toronto, has announced that its Tuscaloosa, Alabama, spoke facility has started commercial operations.

The Alabama facility joins the company’s other spokes in Gilbert, Arizona; Rochester, New York; and Kingston, Ontario.

The company says its Alabama spoke is strategically located to support the recycling needs of its growing battery supply customer base in the southeastern U.S, adding that the EV supply chain in the region continues to develop as battery and automotive manufacturers establish operations.

Ajay Kochhar, co-founder and CEO of Li-Cycle, says, “This facility enhances our ability to support the recycling needs of our diverse and growing customer base in North America to ensure lithium-ion battery material is recycled in an environmentally friendly and safe manner. Li-Cycle is creating an essential domestic supply of recycled material to support EV production and assist automakers in meeting their domestic production content requirements.”

Li-Cycle’s Alabama Spoke is more than 100,000 square feet, with nearly 120,000 square feet in additional warehousing capacity. The facility has the same design as its Arizona plant, which opened earlier this year and is operating near target throughput, according to Li-Cycle. The Alabama spoke has created approximately 45 new jobs and will incorporate key process improvements and optimization projects implemented in Arizona. The new facility has a total input processing capacity of 10,000 metric tons of lithium-ion battery materials per year and the flexibility to expand processing capacity in the future, the company adds.  

"Li-Cycle's new battery recycling facility in Tuscaloosa adds a dynamic new dimension to Alabama's evolving auto industry," Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey says. "This facility will play an important role in the life cycle of batteries powering electric vehicles by contributing an innovative sustainability solution."

Across its four operating Spokes in North America, Li-Cycle now has a total input processing capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year, or the equivalent of batteries from approximately 60,000 electric vehicles (EVs), the company says.  

The primary output product of Li-Cycle’s spokes is black mass, consisting in part of lithium, cobalt and nickel. Li-Cycle will convert this material into battery-grade materials at its first commercial North American hub facility, which is being built in Rochester. The company says it expects to be able to process 35,000 metric tons of black mass annually, with battery materials equivalent to approximately 225,000 EVs. Li-Cycle says it is targeting commissioning the Rochester hub in 2023.

The Rochester hub facility will use a hydrometallurgical process to be able to produce battery-grade lithium carbonate.

By the end of 2023, the company says it expects to have a total of 65,000 metric tons per year of lithium-ion battery material processing capacity across its spoke network in North America and Europe.

In Europe, Li-Cycle has announced plans to build facilities in Norway and Germany that each will be able to process 10,000 metric tons of lithium-ion batteries per year beginning in 2023. The Norway facility is in partnership Eco Stor AS, Oslo, Norway, and Morrow Batteries AS, Arendal, Norway, though Li-Cycle will be the majority owner.

The company says its next North American spoke is planned for Ohio. The company describes it as its largest lithium-ion battery recycling spoke facility in North America and says it will be co-located at the Ultium Cells battery cell manufacturing megafactory site in Warren, Ohio.