ICM: You are hosting the plant tour at ICBR24, what will our delegates visit?
Jodok Reinhardt: At the date of ICBR24 LIBREC will be in ramp-up for commercial go-live by 1. of October 2024 (SOP). Our guests will see a modern plant full of innovation: facility layout, material handling, storage and discharging are designed from scratch and allow unseen efficiency and safety. Black-mass production, ultimately, is the core of LIBREC’s competence and you will be introduced in a new combination of processes and equipment that has not been used in the recycling industry before and that allows for highest material recovery and lowest impurities in the black-mass. The applied process consumes less than 250kWh per ton of processed material and energy demand is covered by a large own photovoltaic power plant, power discharged from batteries and waterpower from the Swiss grid. All in all, the fully authorized site delivers lowest cost per recovered material, and last but not least, EMPA has performed a Life Cycle Analysis and identified the CO2-footprint of LIBREC’s process to produce black-mass at a record-low 10 to 40 kilogram CO2-equivalents per ton of processed battery materials.

ICM: How is the battery recycling industry evolving, and how is LIBREC AG positioning itself to remain competitive and innovative in the coming years?

Jodok Reinhardt: LIBREC keeps improving the efficiency of all processes with an immediate focus in the next 2 years on automation of battery dismantling, efficient processing of cell-to-pack battery systems and optimizing black-mass characteristics for hydrometallurgical refining and direct recycling. Our goal is to be number 1 in cost per recovery, CO2-footprint, reliability, and safety by continuous learning, research, and design. Based on a best-in-class performance in pre-treatment, LIBREC considers providing a capacity in Europe that can be invested in and/or utilized by all partners in the eco-system, such as cell producers, car manufacturers, refining companies and producers of pCAM and CAM from all continents. Such a co-operation allows volume bundling and lowest cost per ton to the benefit of all participants. We call it “LIBREC platform”. For now, it’s just a concept, but we have interesting discussions.