Doosan Group [000150:KS], a South Korean plant and machinery powerhouse, has signed an agreement with China’s CNGR Advanced Material [300919:CH], a world-leading lithium-ion battery material maker, to collaborate on battery recycling businesses, as reported by the Korea Economic Daily on March 29. Under the agreement, Doosan Group’s battery recycling unit, Doosan Recycle Solutions, will receive waste battery powder containing key materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt from CNGR. The Korean company plans to extract only lithium from the powder and return other materials to CNGR for its production of battery cathode precursor. The partnership seeks to leverage the expertise of both companies, satisfy their respective needs, and improve their business competitiveness in the sector.

Doosan Recycle Solutions boasts its economic and chemical-free recycling technology of treating waste battery powder with heat and separating lithium using pure water to extract lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide through the crystallization method. This eco-friendly method achieves high lithium purity of over 99.5% and collection rates of above 85%. Doosan also plans to establish a commercial production facility in South Korea next year to extract lithium from waste batteries, targeting an annual production capacity of 3,000 tons by 2026. The move aids the world’s growing need for lithium batteries and the reuse of related key metals, as the global automobile industry is shifting to electric vehicles with a focus on the adoption of circular materials.

Sources:

https://www.kedglobal.com/batteries/newsView/ked202403290012