Resource availability and environmental impact play a key role in lithium-ion battery (LIB) production. To minimize environmental impacts (such as carbon footprint) and reduce dependency on imported raw materials, recycling of LIB plays  central role for Europe. The recycling technologies used have steadily evolved in recent years, and in perspective allow overall recovery rates of more than 90 percent (excluding O₂).

With the rapidly growing sales of electric cars, electrically powered trucks, stationary storage as well as batteries in numerous other applications, a strongly increasing demand for the recycling of LIB can be expected in the foreseeable future. While so far the majority of LIB recycling capacity is located in East Asia, especially in China, capacity for LIB recycling is currently also being built in Europe.

对锂离子电池回收能力的需求不断增长。欧洲将如何应对这一挑战——以及哪些公司正在哪些地点进行投资。

资源可用性和环境影响在锂离子电池（LIB）生产中发挥着关键作用。为了最大限度地减少环境影响（例如碳足迹）并减少对进口原材料的依赖，锂离子电池的回收在欧洲发挥着核心作用。近年来，所使用的回收技术稳步发展，总体回收率超过90%（不包括O 2）。

随着电动汽车、电动卡车、固定式存储以及许多其他应用中的电池销量的快速增长，预计在可预见的未来，锂离子电池回收的需求将强劲增长。虽然到目前为止，大部分锂离子电池回收能力位于东亚，尤其是中国，但欧洲目前也在建设锂离子电池回收能力。

Current and announced recycling sites for lithium-ion batteries in Europe.

欧洲当前和已宣布的锂离子电池回收站

The map in Figure 1 shows the lithium-ion battery recycling facilities installed by the end of 2023 and those announced for the coming years in Europe and their operators. The particularly high number of recycling sites in Central Europe is striking. This is often due to proximity to battery material producers, battery cell manufacturers or automotive manufacturers. In the coming years, however, countries such as Spain and the UK will also increase their capacities and thus diversify the project situation in Europe.
Numerous plants are planned from the outset so that they can increase their capacity if necessary. An example of this are companies such as Northvolt, SungEel HighTech and EcoBat, which are planning to expand the recycling capacity of their sites by more than 150,000 tons per year by 2030.
图 1 中的地图显示了欧洲到 2023 年底安装的锂离子电池回收设施以及未来几年宣布的锂离子电池回收设施及其运营商。中欧的回收站数量特别多，令人震惊。这通常是由于靠近电池材料生产商、电池制造商或汽车制造商。然而，未来几年，西班牙和英国等国家也将增加产能，从而使欧洲的项目情况多样化。
从一开始就规划了许多工厂，以便在必要时提高产能。Northvolt、SungEel HighTech 和 EcoBat 等公司就是一个例子，它们计划到 2030 年将其工厂的回收能力扩大到每年 15 万吨以上。
 

 Figure 1: Existing and announced recycling sites for lithium-ion batteries in Europe (as of May 2023)

图1：欧洲现有和宣布的锂离子电池回收站（截至2023年5月）

The recycling sites can be divided into "spokes" and "hubs" according to recycling depth - i.e. depending on what the input and output materials of the recycling process are (designations adapted from Li-Cycle). Spokes are capable of performing the first steps of battery recycling. In this process, spent batteries are discharged, disassembled and mechanically processed into the so-called black mass. This includes the cathode and anode active materials, which contain most of the valuable metals.

Hubs can also perform the second stage of battery recycling. Here, the black mass is refined using (electro)chemical hydrometallurgical processes or a polymetallurgical approach, allowing valuable materials such as cobalt, nickel and lithium to be recovered. In Europe, just under half of the sites are hubs with the capability to recover battery raw materials (marked with red dot in Figure 1).

Spokes are located decentrally for optimal logistics, while hubs can be established centrally for black mass processing. This is partly due to the fact that the transport of lithium-ion batteries to Spokes is classified as a dangerous goods transport. As a result, the arrangements for transport are more complex and cost-intensive than for black mass.

根据回收深度，回收站点可分为“spokes”和“hubs”，即取决于回收过程的输入和输出材料是什么（名称改编自Li-Cycle）。spokes能够执行电池回收的第一步。在此过程中，废电池被放电、拆卸并机械加工成所谓的黑色物质。这包括阴极和阳极活性材料，其中含有大部分有价值的金属。

hubs还可以执行电池回收的第二阶段。在这里，黑色物质使用（电）化学湿法冶金工艺或多冶金方法进行精炼，从而回收钴、镍和锂等有价值的材料。在欧洲，近一半的站点是有能力回收电池原材料的中心（图 1 中用红点标记）。

spokes分散放置以实现最佳物流，而枢纽可以集中建立以进行黑色批量处理。部分原因是锂离子电池运往 Spokes 被归类为危险品运输。因此，运输安排比黑人弥撒更为复杂且成本更高。

Recycling capacities for lithium-ion batteries in Europe will increase to 400,000 t/a by 2025

2025年欧洲锂离子电池回收能力将增至40万吨/年

Information is available on most recycling facilities regarding their recycling capacity. However, since not all facilities have the same recycling depth, these capacities cannot simply be added up. Summing the capacities of the spokes allows an estimation of the capacity of the first recycling steps up to the black mass. Thus, it is possible to estimate approximately the amount of battery that can theoretically be recycled. However, since individual recycling plants carry out both processing to black mass and further processing at the same site, the potential recycling quantity is underestimated.

In the EU, capacity for the first steps of LIB recycling will increase to 160,000 tons per year by the end of 2023, spread across 37 sites. Compared to 2020, capacities have increased by more than 100,000 t/a with the commissioning of 13 major recycling facilities. Another 16 plants are planned and will bring further capacity gains.

With the announced new plants and expansions alone, capacities are expected to reach 400,000 t/a in 2025. A comparison of the planned recycling capacities with the projected return volumes of recycled batteries and production rejects indicates that the planned capacities will exceed demand in the coming years (Figure 2).

大多数回收设施都可以获得有关其回收能力的信息。然而，由于并非所有设施都具有相同的回收深度，因此这些能力不能简单地相加。对spokes 的容量进行求和可以估计到黑色物质的第一个回收步骤的容量。因此，可以大致估计理论上可以回收的电池量。然而，由于各个回收厂在同一地点进行黑料加工和进一步加工，因此潜在的回收量被低估。

在欧盟，到 2023 年底，首批锂离子电池回收能力将增至每年 16 万吨，分布在 37 个地点。与2020年相比，产能增加超过10万吨/年，13个主要回收设施投产。另外 16 个工厂正在规划中，这将带来进一步的产能增长。

仅考虑已宣布的新工厂和扩建项目，预计到 2025 年产能将达到 40 万吨/年。将计划的回收能力与预计的回收电池和生产废品返回量进行比较表明，规划产能将超过未来几年需求（图 2）。 

The high market dynamics in the European region are driven, among other things, by the establishment of battery cell production sites: This is because, particularly during the ramp-up phase, but also during ongoing operations, relevant quantities of production scrap are generated that have to be recycled. For example, the high density of recycling facilities in the eastern German region can be explained by the battery cell production facilities of Tesla, Microvast and Farasis. In addition, SungEel HighTech is installing its new recycling plant to recycle production rejects not far from LG Chem's cell manufacturing facility in Wroclaw, Poland.

欧洲地区市场的高活力主要是由电池生产基地的建立推动的：这是因为，特别是在产能提升阶段，而且在持续运营期间，会产生相应数量的生产废料，必须回收。例如，特斯拉、Microvast 和 Farasis 的电池生产设施可以解释德国东部地区回收设施的高密度。此外，SungEel HighTech 正在距离 LG Chem 位于波兰弗罗茨瓦夫的电池制造工厂不远的地方安装新的回收工厂，以回收生产废料。

European companies hold their own against Asian and American competition in battery recycling in the EU

欧洲公司在欧盟电池回收领域对抗亚洲和美国的竞争

Analyzing the origins of the plant operators, the large number of European companies stands out. In recent years, they have been able to hold their own against foreign competition with new sites and plant expansions. Currently, around 30 percent of the capacity in Europe is processed by Asian and American recyclers. SungEel from South Korea and the American Ecobat operate the largest plants.

分析工厂经营者的起源，大量欧洲公司脱颖而出。近年来，他们通过新址和工厂扩建，能够在国外竞争中保持自己的地位。目前，欧洲约 30% 的产能由亚洲和美国的回收商处理。韩国的 SungEel 和美国的 Ecobat 经营着最大的工厂。

European companies such as Northvolt, Altilium Metals and Librec have greatly increased their capacity announcements. Northvolt plans to increase its capacity in Sweden by 100,000 t/a by 2030, while Librec aims to increase capacity to 200,000 t/a by 2026 with plants in Poland, Spain, Italy and Germany.

Overall, however, the current size ratios are expected to remain, as Asian companies are also looking to increase capacity in the coming years through expansions (SungEel in Germany, Poland, and Hungary) and new builds (EcoNiLi entering in Spain).

The LIB recycling plants identified are operated by many different companies. Among them are larger corporations such as Erlos (a spin-off of WP Holding) and BASF, as well as joint ventures such as Primobius GmbH (between Neometals Ltd. and SMS Group GmbH). Some companies are already active in the battery industry or are established recyclers of lithium-ion batteries (e.g., Stena Recycling, Accurec, Redux and TES). In addition, OEMs such as Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen have also established initial sites in Kuppenheim and Salzgitter. Furthermore, Renault with Veolia, Honda with Snam, Audi with Umicore and Volvo with Stena Recycling are also participating in LIB recycling through joint ventures and partnerships, although most of these are still pilot projects. In addition, leading cell manufacturers and material producers such as Northvolt and Umicore have entered the competition for battery recycling in Europe.

There are also start-ups in the corporate landscape. However, these are currently responsible for a negligible share of recycling capacity. Nevertheless, several companies such as Cylib or Tozero Recycling have been founded in recent years and have brought new processes and procedures to the market. For example, the lack of a network to other players in the value chain (e.g., collection, logistics, battery production) proves to be a barrier to market entry. Established players have an advantage here, e.g., through existing contracts with cell manufacturers for the acceptance of production rejects or established processes in logistics.

Northvolt、Altilium Metals 和 Librec 等欧洲公司已大幅增加其产能公告。Northvolt计划到2030年将其在瑞典的产能增加10万吨/年，而Librec的目标是到2026年将产能增加到20万吨/年，在波兰、西班牙、意大利和德国设有工厂。

但总体而言，目前的规模比率预计将保持不变，因为亚洲公司也希望在未来几年通过扩张（SungEel 在德国、波兰和匈牙利）和新建项目（EcoNiLi 进入西班牙）来增加产能。

确定的锂离子电池回收厂由许多不同的公司运营。其中包括 Erlos（WP Holding 的子公司）和 BASF 等大型企业，以及 Primobius GmbH（Neometals Ltd. 和 SMS Group GmbH 之间的合资企业）等合资企业。一些公司已经活跃在电池行业或已成为锂离子电池回收商（例如Stena Recycling、Accurec、Redux 和TES）。此外，梅赛德斯-奔驰和大众等整车厂也在库彭海姆和萨尔茨吉特建立了初步工厂。此外，雷诺与威立雅、本田与 Snam、奥迪与 Umicore 以及沃尔沃与 Stena Recycling 也通过合资企业和合作伙伴关系参与锂离子电池回收，尽管其中大多数仍处于试点项目。此外，Northvolt和Umicore等领先的电池制造商和材料生产商也加入了欧洲电池回收的竞争。

企业界也有初创企业。然而，目前这些回收能力所占的份额可以忽略不计。尽管如此，近年来，Cylib 或 Tozero Recycling 等几家公司已经成立，并将新的流程和程序推向市场。例如，缺乏与价值链中其他参与者（例如收集、物流、电池生产）的网络被证明是进入市场的障碍。成熟的参与者在这方面具有优势，例如，通过与电池制造商签订的现有合同来接受生产废品或建立物流流程。

The data used in this article comes from the BEMA2020 research project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (grant number 03XP0272B).

本文使用的数据来自BEMA2020研究项目，该项目由德国联邦教育和研究部资助（资助号03XP0272B）。