Battery recycler Accurec officially opens lithium recovery plant in Germany

Germany’s Accurec Recycling GmbH has officially commissioned a new facility in Krefeld to recover lithium from scrap batteries, aiming to increase its processing capacity from 4,000 to 20,000 tones per year. The plant will produce lithium carbonate and nickel-cobalt products on an industrial scale. The inauguration, attended by EU Environment Commissioner Jessica Roswall, highlighted the project as a strategic initiative for Europe’s critical raw materials supply. Roswall noted that global lithium demand rose 30% last year and stressed that plants like Accurec’s are crucial for building a competitive and resilient EU economy. She praised the company as a medium-sized European enterprise at the forefront of recycling technology. Traditionally, European battery recycling ends with black mass, which is exported to Asia for further processing. Accurec’s technology addresses this bottleneck by recovering lithium at the start of the process, allowing local extraction of critical materials and strengthening Europe’s recycling autonomy.