Resource management firm Veolia has announced its first electric vehicle (EV) battery recoiling plant in the UK, which will have the capacity to process 20 per cent of the country’s end-of-life batteries by 2024.
Business Green reports that the new facility in Minworth in the West Midlands will cement the firm’s first step in developing its recycling and treatment capacity in the UK. The company aims to process 350,000 tonnes of end-of-life EV batteries predicted to be in the UK by 2040.
The facility will first discharge and dismantle the batteries before the mechanical and chemical separation recycling processes will be completed.
The company will leverage its global network to establish a fully circular economy solution within the next five years to produce battery precursors in Europe.
Many of the materials required for battery manufacturing rely on traditional water and energy-intensive processes, and it is estimated that around 500,000 gallons of water are needed to extract one tonne of lithium via this method of mining.
Urban mining or the use of recycled materials could reduce water consumption as well as cut greenhouse gas emissions from battery production by up to 50 per cent.
Gavin Graveson, Veolia’s senior executive vice-president for the Northern Europe Zone said, “We will not reach carbon neutrality without increasing our investment and development of new technologies and recycling opportunities.”
He added that s the demand for EVs increases, there will be a need for the facility, and more like it in the UK, to ensure the country does not find itself in a resource crisis in the next decade.
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