Page 166 - CW E-Magazine (21-1-2025)

News from Abroad

GEARING UP FOR GROWTH
Marubeni invests in UK’s lithium battery recycling firm, Altilium

Altilium, a UK-based clean techno- will have capacity to process battery Altilium and Marubeni have been
logy group, has announced a $5-mn stra- waste from 150,000 EVs per year, pro- working together closely since the sign-
tegic investment from Japanese trading ducing 30,000-mt of low carbon CAM. ing of a Memorandum of Understand-
and investment group Marubeni Corpo- This would be enough to meet 20% of ing (MoU) in 2023. Under the frame-
ration, as part of its Series B funding the UK’s CAM requirement by 2030. work of the MoU, the two companies
round. Altilium is seeking to deliver have been jointly developing a closed
UK’s most sustainable lithium-ion bat- According to Altilium its EcoCathode loop EV battery recycling business in
tery materials, through its full battery technology can recover over 95% of the UK and establishing a supply chain
circularity offering, encompassing zero- the battery metals from an end-of-life of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries for
carbon EV battery collection, black EV battery, reducing the cost of battery recycling at Altilium’s facilities.
mass recycling and chemical refining to raw materials by up to 20% and cutting
battery metals salts, cathode precursor greenhouse gas emissions by up to 74% Marubeni has been involved and
(pCAM) and cathode active materials compared to virgin materials. grown its presence in the battery mate-
(CAM). This will include the construc- rial industry since 1985. In recent
tion of the UK’s largest planned EV Mr. Kamran Mahdavi, CEO of years, Marubeni has been actively
battery recycling facility, to be located Altilium, said, “Marubeni’s investment involved in the battery recycling business
in Teesside. strengthens our position as leaders in following its investment into the US recy-
sustainable battery materials and rein- cling market. Altilium completed its
Marubeni’s strategic investment in forces our commitment to building the Series A funding round earlier this year with
Altilium will support the next stage of UK’s largest EV battery recycling faci- a $12-mn investment from SQM Lithium
development for the Teesside facility, lity. Together, we are advancing our mis- Ventures, the corporate venture arm of
including detailed engineering studies, sion to create a UK closed-loop supply the lithium business of Sociedad Quimica
land acquisition, planning and permit- chain, reduce dependency on imported y Minera de Chile (SQM), one of the
ting, and recruitment of the key leader- materials and lowering the environmen- world’s leading producers of battery-grade
ship team. Once operational, the plant tal footprint of battery production”. lithium.

CHANGE OF PLANS
Hanwha to exit from polysilicon business in US

Hanwha Solutions Corp., the energy It was REC Silicon’s last polysili- Group’s ambitious plan to build a com-
unit of South Korea’s chemicals-to- con-manufacturing plant in the US plete PV manufacturing value chain in
financial conglomerate Hanwha Group, after the company shut down its elec- the US, spanning polysilicon, ingot,
is reportedly withdrawing from the poly- tronic-grade polysilicon-manufacturing wafer, cell and module production.
silicon production business in the US plant in Butte, Montana, last year.
by pulling the plug on the last polysili- Following the closure of REC
con plant in the US, run by Norwegian The factory operation halt comes Silicon’s polysilicon-manufacturing
firm REC Silicon ASA. Polysilicon or after REC Silicon failed to pass Hanwha facilities, Hanwha Q Cells plans to use
polycrystalline silicon is a raw material Q Cells Co.’s final quality test of its polysilicon provided by OCIM Sdn.
used by the solar photovoltaic (PV) and solar-grade polysilicon, a move expected (OCIM), a Malaysian polysilicon-manu-
electronics industry. to lead to termination of a 4-trillion won facturing unit of Korean solar cell ma-
($2.7-bn) deal signed in 2023 to supply jor OCI Holdings Co. OCIM’s polysili-
According to media reports, REC REC Silicon’s polysilicon to Hanwha Q con sells for $22 per kilogram, three
Silicon, in which Hanwha Solutions Cells, the solar power unit of Hanwha times as much as Chinese polysilicon.
and its affiliate have the biggest 33% Solutions known as Qcells in overseas But considering that the US may
stake, recently suspended operation markets. impose up to 250% anti-dumping duties
of its polysilicon-production plant in on China-made polysilicon, Hanwha
Moses Lake, Washington, and is expected REC Silicon’s polysilicon plant could obtain polysilicon from OCIM at
to eventually shutter the facilities. closure would also thwart Hanwha lower cost.

166 Chemical Weekly January 21, 2025

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