Fortum Battery Recycling and AMG Lithium have signed a preliminary contract and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the recycling of lithium salts. The common goal is to process lithium salts in Germany into battery-grade lithium hydroxide.
AMG Lithium is currently building a lithium hydroxide production plant in Bitterfeld in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. This is where the recycled lithium salts from Fortum’s hydrometallurgical recycling plant in Harjavalta, Finland, will be processed. Fortum’s recycling plant only recently went into operation. So far, neither company has revealed concrete delivery quantities and the targeted duration of a possible binding agreement.
“Through this cooperation, Fortum is the first company that can offer true European closed-loop solution for automotive and battery industry,” says Tero Holländer, Head of Business Line Batteries at Fortum Battery Recycling. “The agreement with AMG is also a great testament to the significance of our newly opened Harjavalta plant for the European battery recycling industry, highlighting the increased need for recycled battery materials and demand for new efficient and sustainable solutions.”
At the recycling plant, Fortum says it will be able to recover 95 per cent of the metals from the black mass of the battery, returning it to the material cycle for the production of new lithium-ion battery chemicals. The black mass – i.e. the mixture of the various active materials in the battery – is also extracted at other Fortum sites (including in Germany) but is then broken down again into its individual components at the plant in Harjavalta. This MoU with AMG Lithium represents the first customer for the lithium extracted there.
The German AMG lithium plant in Bitterfeld-Wolfen is scheduled to go into operation in autumn 2023 and is initially designed for an annual capacity of 20,000 tonnes. This should make it possible to produce batteries for 800,000 electric cars. Although Fortum will provide some lithium, the raw material will be mostly supplied from a mine in Brazil.
“This MOU represents another important step towards an independent and sustainable lithium supply chain for Europe,” said Stefan Scherer, Managing Director of AMG Lithium GmbH. “We are looking forward to working together with Fortum in order to de-carbonize and improve the battery recycling lithium supply chain in Europe.”
Keyword: AMG Lithium to use Fortum recycled lithium