Stelco Enters EV Battery Recycling Market Through Primobius
Stelco, which is a steelmaker producing flat-rolled, cold-rolled, and hot-rolled steel products, has announced that it is entering the electric vehicle battery recycling market through agreements with Primobius GmbH.
The company executed binding licensing and option agreements with Primobius to commercialize Primobius’ EV battery recycling and processing technologies in North America. Under the agreement, Stelco will be able to advance commercial lithium-ion battery feedstock sourcing agreements. It will also allow the company to begin the engineering and approval processes. The agreement enables Primobius the right to acquire between 25% and 50% equity in Stelco’s wholly-owned subsidiary.
The proposed Lake Erie Works refinery will enable Stelco to join the ranks of lithium-ion battery recycling leaders in North America. The integrated shredding and hydrometallurgical refinery will produce up to 18,400 net tons per year of nickel, manganese, and cobalt sulfates, and lithium hydroxide and carbonate. It’s expected to generate up to 40,000 net tons per year of scrap steel that Stelco will recycle into its steelmaking operations.
I recently covered the refinery in this article, and it includes the same statement by Stelco CEO Alan Kestenbaum, who shared his excitement about partnering with Primobius. I think the move into battery recycling is a smart move for the steelmaker and I honestly love that they are also recycling steel back into the operations.
The market for waste steel recycling is actually vast and is expected to hold the largest share by 2026, Construction News Portal stated. Recycling Today noted that global steel output was up by 3.7% last year, citing data from the World Steel Association (Worldsteel) which said that the nations reporting data to it produced around 1.95 billion metric tons of steel in 2021. China, India, Japan, and the US are the world’s 4 largest steel producers and experienced output increases ranging from 15% to 19%.
Business Insider reported that steel is recycled more than almost anything, yet it still creates a lot of pollution. The article focused more on the greenhouse gas emissions of steel and pointed out that there’s not enough scrap to meet the demand, so most steel is made from mined iron and coal. Hopefully, Stelco’s new refinery can help with that in the coming years.
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