Japan’s SMM eyes Li-ion battery recycling plant by 2026

Japanese battery cathode producer Sumitomo Metal Mining (SMM) plans to set up a lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery recycling plant in western Japan's Ehime prefecture by June 2026.

The recycling plant is expected to have a processing capacity of around 6,000-7,000 t/yr of black mass, equivalent to batteries for around 60,000 electric vehicles, a company representative told Argus on 28 March. Black mass is the shredded remains of cathode materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium.

The company will start construction sometime during March-April 2025, but the timing for commercial operations was undisclosed.

SMM has also entered into a partnership with nine domestic recycling partners to build a supply chain for collecting used Li-ion batteries, the company representative added.

SMM produced cathodes using nickel and cobalt from recycled Li-ion batteries in June 2023. Domestic battery producer Prime Earth EV Energy proved the quality of SMM's used cathodes in performance testing.

The recycled ratio of nickel and cobalt used in the test was more than 6pc and 16pc respectively. This exceeds the standard rates that EU battery regulations tentatively set as minimum recycling requirements for each material, a SMM representative previously told Argus. The EU regulation is expected to take effect from 2031 after approvals by member countries.

By Yusuke Maekawa