BASF, Stena Recycling partner to recycle EV batteries across Europe

BASF, a leading battery materials company announced that it has signed a black mass purchase agreement with Stena Recycling, a European recycling firm to recycle EV batteries in Europe.

The partnership is part of a broader collaboration between BASF and Stena Recycling aimed at setting up a battery recycling value chain for the European EV battery market.

"The focus of the partnership will be on developing improved black mass production processes to achieve high recovery rates for metals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt to support closed-loop solutions for the European electric vehicle battery market," BASF said in an official release.

As part of the partnership, Stena Recycling will collect end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and battery production scrap, assess, and pre-treat end-of-life batteries and battery production scrap to produce black mass in its battery recycling facility in Halmstad, Sweden. BASF will further process and refine black mass in its battery recycling prototype metal refinery in Schwarzheide, Germany to recover valuable metals from black mass and potentially produce new cathode active materials for new lithium-ion batteries.

"By entering into a co-operation with Stena Recycling, we are strengthening BASF's ability to offer a broadened battery collection network with a strong partner in the Scandinavian countries so that we can expand our offer for individual and closed loop solutions to battery producers and electric vehicle manufacturers in Europe," said Dr. Daniel Schönfelder, President of BASF's Catalysts division.

"This is an important step towards a circular economy for the European electric vehicle battery market," he added.

The use of recycled battery materials in the production of new batteries is expected reduce to the battery's carbon footprint significantly.

"The electrification of society has only just begun, and we want to boost a circular approach to battery production," said Marcus Martinsson, Product Area Manager Batteries at Stena Recycling Group."With this agreement in place, Stena Recycling strengthens its position as one of the leading recycling partners in Europe, to both battery manufacturers and the vehicle industry."