Ascend Elements to supply recycled lithium carbonate to Koura

Ascend Elements, a Westborough, Massachusetts-based lithium-ion battery (LIB) recycler has agreed to supply Koura, an Orbia business that produces fluoroproducts and advanced technologies, with up to 5,000 metric tons of recycled and recovered lithium carbonate per year.

Koura will use the recycled lithium carbonate as the source for LIB materials in the United States and European markets, including lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), an electrolyte salt. The company says the agreement with Ascend will enable it to generate enough material to support the production of more than 1 million electric vehicles per year.

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“Koura is leading the industry’s efforts to incorporate recycled content into materials for lithium-ion batteries,” Ascend CEO Mike O’Kronley says. “By recovering lithium and other critical metals from used lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap, we are keeping those materials out of landfills while also making EV batteries cleaner and more sustainable.”

Ascend’s battery recycling process recovers lithium carbonate from used LIBs and manufacturing scrap for sale to battery materials companies, such as Koura. The company says it also uses the recycled lithium as part of its patented Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process to produce sustainably engineered cathode precursor (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM).

“Ascend Elements has been an ideal development partner for our Koura business, given our shared focus on renewable technologies and the massive opportunities for companies pioneering in batteries and energy storage,” says Sameer Bharadwaj, CEO of Orbia, which has global headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv, Israel. “Our partnership with Ascend has accelerated our material innovation activities as we work to advance life around the world.”

Orbia Fluorinated Solutions (Koura) President Gregg Smith adds, “Koura’s ongoing partnership with Ascend has led to gains in process technologies and fluorinated chemistries that yield sustainable materials for the high-performing lithium-ion batteries needed in major global markets. We are steering the electrified future together.”