Lease Signed for India’s Biggest
Battery Recycling Site
Plans
for the largest battery recycling facility in India have moved nearer to fruition
with a lease agreement for a site in Mundra, Gujurat.
The
plant is being built by Ace Green Recycling which operates lithium and lead plants
in India and Taiwan with the goal of expanding to the US, Europe, Israel and South
Africa.
Ace
is already recycling lithium-ion batteries, including lithium iron phosphate (LFP)
chemistries since 2023. It has previously announced plans to establish 10 000 tonnes
of LFP battery recycling capacity per year in India by 2026. This strategic deployment
will be phased with the planned deployment of the company’s technology in Texas,
USA.
Low
emissions
Ace’s
LithiumFirst technology recycles LFP batteries at room
temperature in a fully electrified hydrometallurgical process producing no Scope
1 carbon emissions, and with zero liquid and solid waste. Commercial lithium is
recovered at levels of around 75%, producing lithium carbonate of purities exceeding
99%, which is fed back into the battery materials value chain.
Ace
also plans to recycle lead batteries at its Mundra recycling park. Its technology
for lead batteries is said to be a more environmentally friendly alternative to
legacy smelting operations, with its fully electric process producing zero Scope
1 carbon emissions.
First
mover
‘Ace
is strategically scaling our LFP battery recycling capacity to meet demand and support
our growing customer base,’ says ceo Nishchay Chadha. ‘We plan to continue our focus on this market
to build on our first-mover advantage. Our team recently visited battery recycling
facilities in China, and we believe our LFP battery recycling technology to be more
advanced despite a more mature and larger scale lithium-ion recycling ecosystem
there.’
Mundra
is near major ports handling over 10% of India’s maritime cargo so the new site
will streamline the transportation of battery recycling feedstock and off-take products.
When fully operational, Ace expects the facility to create up to 50 jobs in the
local economy, bringing the company’s employment in India to more than 100.