Mercedes-Benz closes the loop with a battery recycling factory in Kuppenheim

The Swabian automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz has today opened Europe's first battery recycling factory with an integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical process. According to the company, it is the first car manufacturer worldwide to close the battery material cycle with its own facility. Unlike currently established processes, the expected recovery rate of the mechanical-hydrometallurgical recycling plant is more than 96 percent. Valuable, limited raw materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt can be recovered so that they are suitable for use in new batteries for future all-electric Mercedes-Benz vehicles, the manufacturer advertises, having invested a double-digit million amount in the construction of the new battery recycling factory, thereby contributing to value creation at the Germany site. Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Baden-Württemberg's Environment Minister Thekla Walker received information on site in Baden Kuppenheim on the occasion of the opening.

“As a pioneer of automotive engineering, we are setting a milestone for more sustainability in raw materials with Europe's first integrated mechanical-hydrometallurgical battery recycling factory. Together with our partners from industry and science, we are making a strong statement of innovative power for sustainable electromobility and value creation in Germany and Europe," says Ola Källenius, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-Benz Group AG.

The manufacturer is cooperating for the new battery recycling factory with the technology partner Primobius, a joint venture of the German plant and mechanical engineering company SMS group and the Australian process technology developer Neometals. As part of a scientific research project with three German universities, the facility is being funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection. The project considers the entire process chain of recycling, including logistics and reintegration concepts.

“The future of the automobile is electric, and batteries are an essential component for it. To produce batteries in a resource-saving and sustainable way, recycling is also necessary. Circular economy is a growth driver and at the same time an essential building block for achieving our climate goals! I congratulate Mercedes-Benz for their courage and foresight in this investment in Kuppenheim. Germany remains a leading market for new and innovative technologies," explained Olaf Scholz, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Integrated Mechanical-Hydrometallurgical Recycling Concept

The recycling plant is the first in Europe to cover all steps from the shredding of battery modules to the drying and processing of battery-active materials. While the mechanical process sorts plastics, copper, aluminum, and iron into pure fractions through a complex, multi-stage process, the subsequent hydrometallurgical process focuses on the so-called black mass. These are the active materials from which the electrodes of battery cells are made. In a multi-stage chemical process, the valuable metals cobalt, nickel, and lithium are individually extracted. These recyclates have battery quality and are thus suitable for the production of new battery cells. Unlike the pyrometallurgy currently established in Europe, the hydrometallurgical process is less energy-intensive and generates less waste. It operates at low process temperatures of up to 80 degrees Celsius, thus consuming less energy. Moreover, the recycling plant, like all Mercedes-Benz production sites, is operated in a CO2-neutral manner on a balance sheet basis. It is 100 percent powered by green electricity. The roof area of the 6,800 square meter building is equipped with a photovoltaic system with a capacity of more than 350 kilowatt-peak.