Page 163 - CW E-Magazine (30-4-2024)

News from Abroad

RECOVERING VALUABLE METALS
BASF sets up prototype metal refinery for battery

recycling in Germany

BASF, a supplier of cathode active sustainable access to critical metals,”
materials (CAM) for the lithium-ion said Dr. Daniel Schönfelder, President
batteries market, has successfully started of BASF’s Catalysts division, who is also
operating its prototype metal refinery responsible for the company’s battery
for battery recycling in Schwarzheide, materials and battery recycling business.
Germany. The plant allows for the “We will use the extracted metals to
development of operational procedures enable a truly local circular economy for
and the optimisation of innovative bat- the battery value chain,” he added.
tery recycling technology, processing
end-of-life lithium-ion batteries and tery materials production and battery BASF said it is committed to further
battery production scrap. This will recycling in Schwarzheide. It comple- developing and scaling its metal refin-
facilitate optimal recovery of valuable ments BASF’s existing CAM plant and ing technology, with the goal of estab-
metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, the battery recycling plant for the pro- lishing a commercial-scale refinery in
manganese and copper when scaling duction of black mass, which is sched- Europe. This is expected to strengthen
up the technology. uled to start operations later this year. BASF’s footprint in Europe, comple-
menting a strong collection network for
The prototype metal refinery is “With the expected rapid growth end-of-life batteries and battery pro-
another milestone in the construction of of the electric vehicle market, battery duction scrap, black mass production
Europe’s first co-located centre of bat- recycling provides competitive and as well as battery materials production.

German Chancellor visits Covestro’s Shanghai

innovation centre

German polymer specialist, Covestro, company’s CEO, Dr. Markus
recently announced the visit of German Steilemann.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz at its Asia-
Pacific Innovation Centre in Shanghai, According to Covestro,
China. As one of Covestro’s three China is one of its primary
global innovation hubs, together with markets, with 2023 sales
Leverkusen (Germany) and Pittsburgh accounting for over 20% of
(US), the Shanghai location provides the group’s total and cumula-
support in R&D to customers around tive investments exceeding
the world. €4-bn. In Shanghai, Covestro
has established a regional
During the visit, which was part of headquarters housing, besides
Chancellor Scholz’s state trip to China, the Asia-Pacific innovation
Covestro demonstrated its leading hub, the global headquarters
innovations in the circular economy and of its business entity Engi-
provided a platform to discuss chances neering Plastics, as well as the
of the Sino-German partnership. regional headquarters of many
other businesses and func-
“We are deeply honoured to wel- the chemical industry as well as Covestro tions. Additionally, the city is home to
come Chancellor Scholz and get the to help drive sustainable change in China Covestro Integrated Site Shanghai, the
opportunity to highlight the potential of and the rest of the world,” said the company’s largest production site.

Chemical Weekly April 30, 2024 163

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