Milestone Puts Battery Recycling Industry One Step Closer to Increasing Lithium-Ion Processing in North America
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A Cirba Solutions battery recycling and materials recovery facility in Lancaster, Ohio, will create battery-grade metal sulfates and lithium carbonate once it’s up and running. These will then become the raw materials for cathode active materials (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM) for batteries.
The expansion of the site has cost more than $400 million, including more than $82 million from the US DOE thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. In addition to producing enough battery-grade salts to power more than 250,000 EV batteries a year, the expansion will provide over 100 new generational jobs.
As evidence of the positive effects this spending is having on local communities, the company has now surpassed 25% of its hiring target in Lancaster, Ohio.
“Increasing lithium-ion battery processing capacity allows the U.S. to play a pivotal role in the buildout of the critical materials supply chain,” said David Klanecky, President and CEO of Cirba Solutions. “We are not slowing down, and this facility is direct confirmation of that and demonstrates how steel is going into the ground, ensuring global competitiveness to ensure we capture these critical metals domestically. And beyond lithium, the Lancaster, Ohio facility will support a range of critical materials, including cobalt, nickel, manganese and other components that can be used over and over again, ultimately creating a more stable and secure closed-loop supply chain.”
“This beam represents everyone’s diligent focus on both advancing and moving this key project forward, which will greatly influence the North American critical materials supply chain,” said Troy Thennis, Senior Vice President of Growth Projects and Technology at Cirba Solutions. “We’re able to celebrate this milestone because of the true collaborative effort we have with our engineering team, operations group and all our partners.”
In August, representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) witnessed a 300% increase in end-of-life and scrap battery processing capacity at the facility in Lancaster, Ohio.
When construction is completed, overall site processing capacity will have grown by 600% since 2022.
For more information about Cirba Solutions, visit the company’s website.
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