The South Korean company SungEel HiTech, specialising in battery recycling, has reached an agreement with the Spanish company BeePlanet Factory to create a consortium that will work on the reuse and recycling of lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles. According to the Spanish company, other companies from both countries have joined the consortium, such as South Korea’s Samsung C&T.

The consortium will take the form of a new company, called BeeCycle, whose first task will be the construction of a recycling plant in Caparroso (Navarre). Located on a plot of 31,000 square metres, it will receive an investment of EUR 18.5 million and create between 60 and 70 highly skilled jobs.

Production capacity
When it begins operations in 2025, the new factory will process batteries that have reached the end of their useful life, as well as the scrap from battery cell manufacturing. It will have a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year for the production of black mass, the result of crushing the metals that make up batteries. This amount is equivalent to 25,000 cars per year.

BeePlanet Factory was founded in 2018 with the aim of reusing batteries from electric cars and developing sustainable solutions for energy storage. The companies Metales de Navarra (Medenasa) and Truck&Wheel-TW Group have also joined the initiative in Spain. The consortium has in addition received the support of Sodena, the Navarre Development Corporation.

More plants in the future
The cutting-edge technology that SungEel HiTech provides will ensure the reuse and recycling capacity of lithium-ion batteries in the Iberian Peninsula. In the coming years, these electric car components are expected to enter the recycling chain on a massive scale. Indeed, the agreement establishing the consortium also provides for the possibility of opening other plants in Spain in the future.

Spain is the fourth country in Europe where SungEel HiTech has started projects, after Hungary, Poland and Germany. It is joined by Samsung C&T, a company specialising in the trading of industrial and raw materials. The project they are now part of is one of the first in the industry to be implemented in the Iberian Peninsula.

^{Photo: BeePlanet Factory}