Li-Cycle picks Veolia technology for battery recycling

Toronto-based Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. has selected Veolia Water Technologies as a partner for its lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Rochester, New York. The company chose Veolia for its HPD crystallization technology.

Manon Painchaud, the communications project manager for Veolia, says crystallization is the process by which a solid forms from a liquid phase, where the atoms or molecules are highly organized into a structure known as a crystal. During the crystallization process, the desired components are selectively crystallized while undesirable impurities remain in the liquid. 

The company describes the technology as the key in a final stage of the battery recycling process, as it allows a recycler to optimize the creation of nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate from lithium-ion batteries and transforms them into high-purity raw materials, ready to be used in new batteries.

Li-Cycle will use Veolia’s HPD crystallizers to produce approximately 42,000 to 48,000 metric tons of nickel sulfate and 6,500 to 7,500 metric tons per year of cobalt sulfate annually. This material, Veolia says, can then be resold to battery manufacturers.

When fully operational in 2023, the Rochester facility will help “give life back to the equivalent of approximately 225,000 electric vehicle batteries per year,” the two companies say.

“At Li-Cycle, we are committed to doing our part to create a safer, cleaner and healthier world by striving to create a truly closed-loop lithium-ion battery supply chain to address these global challenges,” says Ajay Kochhar, CEO of Li-Cycle.

“Veolia is looking forward to partnering with Li-Cycle to help recover critical materials from lithium-ion batteries, so they can be reintroduced back into the supply chain,” says Vincent Caillaud, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies. “We have vast experience in the lithium production industry, where we enjoy a technology leadership position and will now apply our expertise in crystallization to battery recycling. Active throughout the entire value chain of battery recycling, Veolia is proud to take another step forward towards building a circular economy for lithium-ion batteries.”