FEATURE BATTERIES & CHARGERS €5.8M INVESTMENT IN BATTERY RECYCLING
InnoEnergy, Europe's sustainable energy innovation engine, with the support of the EIT and the European Union, has announced its €5.8m investment into Northvolt’s ‘Revolt’ programme, which will implement the latest discoveries in efficient materials recovery methods and will see the construction of a pilot battery recycling plant, followed by a full-scale version at Northvolt’s site in Skellefteå in 2022
N
orthvolt was founded in 2016 with the mission of building the world's
greenest battery to enable the European transition to renewable energy. EIT InnoEnergy’s investment supports
Northvolt’s target of using 50 per cent recycled materials in all its new battery cells by 2030. Speaking of the investment, EIT
InnoEnergy CEO, Diego Pavia, said: “This is a landmark investment and one that has a mission critical role to play in addressing climate issues. Europe’s energy transition relies on creating a local, competitive and sustainable battery value supply chain that can support the electrification of the transport, power and industrial sectors. As battery volumes are expected to increase drastically, it will be doubly important that, as an industry, we do everything we can to reduce their manufacturing footprint.
8 FEBRUARY 2020 | ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
“As such, greener battery technologies
are a cornerstone of a sustainable future, and we are actively seeking to invest in technologies that can unlock economic and environmental benefits. Better technologies mean we can manufacture much more with less, using recycled raw materials and less energy.” The aim of using 50 per cent recycled
“Greener
battery technologies are a cornerstone of a sustainable future”
materials by 2030 will be achieved through a gradual build-up in capacity. The pilot plant will process 100 tons a year, while the full-scale unit initially will look to recycle 25,000 tons of battery cells a year. At present, much of Europe’s recyclable battery materials are thought to be exported abroad for reuse in countries such as China and Korea. Peter Carlsson, CEO of Northvolt, said: “We are very pleased to have
the continued support of EIT InnoEnergy as we take this next step in developing our blueprint for InnoEnergy
innoenergy.com
sustainable battery manufacturing. Our partnership with EIT InnoEnergy has been vital in getting us to where we are today; not only has it provided investments, it has opened doors for us across Europe.”
RESEARCH Northvolt’s programme builds on two years of research where, in conjunction with researchers at Chalmers University, Sweden, it has optimised the process design for hydrometallurgical treatment. The process allows for more efficient recovery of valuable metals including lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt. This latest investment brings EIT
InnoEnergy’s total capital contributions to Northvolt to €9.3m, following an investment of €3.5m three years ago. Both investments help EIT InnoEnergy unlock the estimated €250bn annual European battery market, identified by the European Battery Alliance. Northvolt is just one of several battery
supply chain start-ups EIT InnoEnergy supports, and it has resources to support more.
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