The Li-ion Battery Recycling Market is projected to reach $6.9 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 21.3% from 2023 to 2030. Market growth is fueled by the rising demand for electric vehicles, an upswing in the need to manage the disposal of used batteries, and decreasing battery prices. However, inadequate recycling infrastructure hampers the global Li-ion recycling market's growth. Government incentives for battery recycling and increased recovery of valuable materials are poised to offer growth opportunities. Nevertheless, the high cost of Li-ion recycling remains a significant challenge, while technological advancements in recycling represent a key trend in the Li-ion recycling market.
Impact of COVID-19 on the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the worldwide economy. Governments worldwide imposed countrywide lockdowns to control the spread of the infection. The lockdown restrictions impacted manufacturing operations, with production facilities either completely shutting down or running at reduced capacities to ensure social distancing and employee safety. Most industries came to a standstill due to raw material & workforce shortages, supply chain disruptions, and restrictions on international trade. The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many businesses, including the Li-ion battery recycling market. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) serve diverse applications, including electric vehicles, power tools, medical devices, smart watches, drones, satellites, and utility-scale storage. The industries using LIBs for these applications were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the impact on manufacturing.
Consequently, there was a decline in the adoption of Li-ion batteries. The Li-ion battery recycling market reported a significant revenue decline in 2020. The medical devices industry was positively impacted due to the elevated demand for battery-powered devices such as bone growth stimulators and glucose monitoring systems. Thus, there was a growth in the utilization of LIBs, with an increased need for LIB recycling. The COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on the Li-ion battery recycling market.
Furthermore, many countries imposed restrictions on material imports and exports from China, impacting the production of Li-ion batteries. This shortage of raw materials increased the need to recycle used Li-ion batteries to produce new batteries. Li-ion battery recycling is a crucial part of the supply chain for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage systems. Several leading market players leveraged this crisis as an opportunity to restructure and revisit their existing strategies and develop portfolios of advanced Li-ion recycling technologies. For instance, in November 2022, Attero Recycling Pvt. Ltd. (India), a recycler of electronic waste and lithium-ion batteries, announced investing $81 million (INR 600 crores) in setting up a Li-ion battery recycling factory with a recycling capacity of 19,500 MT in Telangana (India).
The market holds considerable potential to bounce back due to the rising popularity of electric vehicles, which mainly rely on lithium-ion batteries for power. Additionally, governments of several countries, including the U.S., China, Germany, and South Korea, are undertaking initiatives for battery recycling, which are expected to aid market growth during the forecast period. For instance, in May 2022, the U.S. government announced funding of $3.1 billion for battery manufacturing, processing, and recycling. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic had a mixed impact on the Li-ion battery recycling market.
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Some of the recent developments in the Li-ion battery recycling market are as follows:
- In December 2022, Ni Hsin Group Berhad (Malaysia) collaborated with SIRIM Berhad (Malaysia), an industrial research and technology organization, to launch a lithium-ion battery recycling plant in Malaysia. The SIRIM-Ni Hsin Lithium-Ion Battery Recycling Pilot Plant will be fully operational in 2023 with an annual recycling capacity of 550 tonnes of lithium-ion batteries.
- In November 2022, Attero Recycling Pvt. Ltd. (India), a recycler of electronic waste and lithium-ion batteries, announced investing $81.0 million (INR 600 crores) in setting up a Li-ion battery recycling factory with a recycling capacity of 19,500 MT in Telangana (India).
- In July 2022, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection (BMWK) invested approximately $17.6 million (EUR 16.66 million) in the LiBinfinity project to develop a holistic recycling approach for Lithium-ion batteries. This project will collaborate with experts from research and industry to develop a Lithium battery recycling system that will extend from logistics concepts to reusing recovered material in the life cycle of the battery.
- In May 2022, ACE Green Recycling, Inc. (ACE) announced plans to build and operate four new lithium-ion battery recycling facilities with an annual capacity of over 10,000 tons in Thailand and India.
- In March 2022, Eramet (France), a major producer of nickel and manganese for the steel sector, announced a collaboration to jointly a recycling facility in France for electric vehicle batteries by 2024 with Suez.
- In October 2021, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL, China) announced a $5 billion facility to recycle Lithium-ion batteries. The facility will be a joint venture with EV manufacturers due to the rising need for battery recycling backed by growing EV adoption globally.
- In October 2021, Endesa, a Spanish energy giant, partnered with Urbaser (Spain), the environmental services company, to set up the electric vehicle battery recycling and recovery facility.
- In March 2021, TES-AMM (Singapore), an electronic waste recycling company, invested $20 million to launch a new facility, TES B, for recycling Lithium-ion batteries in Singapore. The plant is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia and has the daily capacity to recycle up to 14 tonnes or the equivalent of 280,000 lithium-ion smartphone batteries.
- In September 2020, Ganfeng Lithium Group Co., Ltd (China) planned to build a li-ion battery recycling plant in Mexico to supply minerals to the country. The Li-ion battery recycling plant also recycles batteries from Tesla cars and Chinese electric buses operating across Latin America, from Santiago in Chile to Medellín in Colombia.
Increasing Demand for Electric Vehicles is Expected to Drive Market Growth
The growing availability of charging infrastructure, government incentives, decreasing total cost of ownership, and rising strategic developments in developing countries are driving the adoption of electric vehicles across the globe. According to the International Energy Agency, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and associated supply chain bottlenecks, electric vehicle sales reached a record high in 2021. For instance, electric car sales almost doubled to 6.6 million in 2021 compared to annual sales in 2020. In addition, as per the Net Zero Emissions by 2050, an electric car fleet is expected to account for over 60% of new car sales, with a volume of 300 million in 2030.
Batteries or energy storage systems are essential for all-electric vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). Widespread adoption of EVs would not be possible without lithium-ion batteries. To meet this demand for electric vehicles or keep the EV movement continuing, companies require a lot of lithium-ion batteries owing to their characteristics, including high power-to-weight ratio, good high-temperature performance, high energy efficiency, and low self-discharge. For instance, In September 2021, Ford Motor Company (U.S.) and battery manufacturer SK Inc. (U.S.) funded $11.4 billion to build two U.S. manufacturing campuses dedicated to EVs and batteries. In addition, most of the components in lithium-ion batteries can be recycled. Thus, a surge in the adoption of lithium-ion batteries and an increasing number of electric vehicles is boosting the global Li-ion recycling market.
Key Findings in the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market Study:
In 2023, the Contractual Services Segment is Expected to Dominate the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market
Based on business model, the Li-ion battery recycling market is broadly segmented into contractual services and direct-to-market. In 2023, the contractual services segment is expected to account for the larger share of the global Li-ion battery recycling market. This segment is also projected to register the higher CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment the growing government incentives and regulatory compliance for battery recycling, the increasing need to manage the disposal of used batteries, and the rising need to reduce the cost of raw materials for new EV batteries.
In 2023, the Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC) Segment is Expected to Dominate the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market
Based on battery type, the global Li-ion battery recycling market is broadly segmented into lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC), and lithium titanate oxide (LTO). In 2023, the LCO is expected to account for the largest share of the global Li-ion battery recycling market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to its several advantages over other types of lithium-ion batteries, including high power output, increasing use in applications such as global positioning system devices, tablets, laptop computers, smartphones, electric vehicles, and medical devices where high-power output and long cycle life are essential, limited batteries lifespan, increasing need to recover valuable materials such as lithium and cobalt from the Li-ion batteries. However, the NMC segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period driven by its advantages over other types of lithium-ion batteries and properties, including high energy density, long cycle life, and high thermal stability making it well-suited for use in electric vehicles, rising need to recover raw materials and Li-ion reused batteries, high containment ratios of nickel, manganese, lithium, and cobalt to produce new batteries.
In 2023, the Pyrometallurgical Process Segment is Expected to Dominate the Li-ion Battery Recycling Market
Based recycling process, the global Li-ion battery recycling market is broadly segmented into pyrometallurgical process, hydrometallurgical process, and other recycling processes. In 2023, the pyrometallurgical process segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global Li-ion battery recycling market. The large market share of this segment is attributed to its high recycling rate, the increasing need to remove organic material from Li-ion batteries, the need for efficient and cost-effective recycling methods, the increasing need to recover valuable materials from used Li-ion batteries to reduce the need for new mining, stringent environmental regulations, and growing demand for a scalable, flexible, and low-cost recycling process.
However, the hydrometallurgical process segment is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment is driven by the growing need to extract a wide range of materials, including copper, lithium, silver, nickel, and zinc, the rising use of selective separation of materials using chemicals, increasing need to address the shortage of critical raw materials, growing demand for low energy consumption, less waste, and lower environmental impact recycling processes.
Asia Pacific to be the Fastest Growing Regional Market
Based on geography, the Li-ion battery recycling market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Asia-Pacific is projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The growth of this segment is driven by the growing consumer electronics industry, rising concerns regarding depleting precious and rare earth metals, increasing implementation of new policies and regulations to promote the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and reduce environmental pollution, and increasing awareness and concern for environmental sustainability. Moreover, the factors such as growing demand for lithium-ion batteries for EVs battery production, high adoption of electric mobility, and surging amount of battery waste generated are also contributing to the growth of the Li-ion battery recycling market in the Asia Pacific region.
Key Players
The report includes a competitive landscape based on an extensive assessment of the key growth strategies adopted by the leading market participants in the Li-ion battery recycling market between 2020 and 2023. The key players profiled in the Li-ion battery recycling market report are Duesenfeld GmbH (Germany), RecycLiCo Battery Materials Inc. (Canada), Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. (Canada), Cirba Solutions (U.S.), Accurec-Recycling GmbH (Germany), Redux Recycling GmbH (U.S.), Redwood Materials, Inc. (U.S.), Glencore plc (Switzerland), Fortum Corporation (Finland), Trishulavel Eshan Pvt Ltd (Li-Circle) (India), SNAM S.A.S (A subsidiary of Floridienne S.A) (France), Primobius GmbH (Germany), MTB Recycling (France), Tata Chemicals Limited (India), OnTo Technology (U.S.), American Battery Technology Company (U.S.), Attero Recycling Pvt. Lyd. (India), Umicore SA (Belgium), and Lithion Recycling Inc. (Canada).
Scope of the report:
Li-ion Battery Recycling Market, by Business Model
- Contractual Recycling Services
- Contractual Recycling Services, By Source
- Lithium-ion Cell Manufacturing Waste
- Electronic Portable Devices
- Electric Vehicles
- Energy Storage Systems
- Other Sources
- Contractual Recycling Services, By End-use Industry
- Consumer Electronics
- Automotive
- Industrial
- Power & Utility
- Other End-use Industries
- Direct-to-Market
- Direct-to-Market, By Source
- Lithium-ion Cell Manufacturing Waste
- Electronic Portable Devices
- Electric Vehicles
- Energy Storage Systems
- Other Sources
- Direct-to-Market, By End-use Industry
- Consumer Electronics
- Automotive
- Industrial
- Power & Utility
- Other End-use Industries
- Direct-to-Market, By Material
- Graphite
- Nickel
- Cobalt
- Copper
- Manganese
- Lithium
- Aluminum
- Iron
- Other Materials
Li-ion Battery Recycling Market, by Battery Type
- Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO)
- Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)
- Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)
- Lithium Nickel Cobalt Aluminum Oxide (NCA)
- Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC)
- Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO)
Li-ion Battery Recycling Market, by Recycling Process
- Pyrometallurgical Process
- Hydrometallurgical Process
- Other Recycling Processes
Li-ion Battery Recycling Market, by Geography
- North America
- Europe
- Germany
- U.K.
- France
- Italy
- Spain
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Norway
- Poland
- Finland
- Rest of Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- Japan
- China
- India
- South Korea
- Singapore
- Australia & New Zealand
- Malaysia
- Rest of Asia-Pacific
- Latin America
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Rest of Latin America
- Middle East & Africa
- UAE
- Saudi Arabia
- Rest of the Middle East & Africa
Key questions answered in the report: