EIT InnoEnergy injects EUR 5.8m in Northvolt’s battery recycling project

EIT InnoEnergy, the European sustainable energy accelerator, said Friday it will invest EUR 5.8 million (USD 6.4m) in a battery recycling plant to be built by battery maker Northvolt in Sweden.

Northvolt will first construct a pilot plant in Vasteras next year, which will process 100 tonnes of battery cells a year. The full-scale version at the company's site in Skelleftea will be built in 2022, with an initial target of recycling 25,000 tonnes a year. Northvolt's goal is using 50% recycled materials by 2030.

The plant construction comes after two years of research during which Northvolt, together with researchers at Chalmers University, Sweden, optimised process design for hydrometallurgical treatment, allowing for better recovery of valuable metals including lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt.

The latest capital injection brings EIT InnoEnergy's total investment in Northvolt to EUR 9.3 million.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.1)

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