Westborough [US]: Westborough-based Ascend Elements, a Lithium-ion battery recycling and engineered materials company, has recently announced a new supply contract with Koura – an Orbia business and one of the world’s largest producers of fluoroproducts and advanced technologies. The contract will provide Koura with up to 5,000 metric tons of recycled and recovered Lithium Carbonate per year.
Koura is tapping into the potential of recycled Lithium Carbonate as a source for Lithium-ion battery materials in both the US and European markets. This includes LiPF6, an essential electrolyte salt, enabling Koura to support the production of more than one million electric vehicles annually. As the demand for regional material supply surges, with electric car sales predicted to account for more than half of US and European car sales by 2030, Ascend Elements is stepping up to meet this challenge.
Ascend Elements CEO Mike O’Kronley stated, “By recovering Lithium and other critical metals from used Lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap, we are keeping those materials out of landfills while also making EV batteries cleaner and more sustainable.”
Gregg Smith, President of Orbia Fluorinated Solutions (Koura) stated, “Koura’s ongoing partnership with Ascend Elements has led to gains in process technologies and fluorinated chemistries that yield sustainable materials for the high-performing Lithium-ion batteries needed in major global markets. We are steering the electrified future together.”
Ascend Elements is revolutionizing the way we recycle batteries, specifically Lithium-ion batteries. Through their patented Hydro-to-Cathode direct precursor synthesis process, they can recover Lithium Carbonate from used batteries and manufacturing scrap and then use it to produce sustainable cathode precursor (pCAM) and cathode active materials (CAM). This pCAM and CAM is then sold to battery materials companies like Koura, creating a circular economy that helps reduce waste while generating economic value.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act is providing incentives to promote the use of domestic and recycled sources of key materials used in batteries, such as Lithium. According to peer-reviewed studies, using recycled battery metals can be just as effective as virgin metals while also decreasing Carbon emissions resulting from mining activities.
Ascend Elements recently sealed a partnership with South Korean battery materials company EcoPro Group. The goal of this collaboration is to develop, qualify and integrate recycled battery materials into the cathode products of EcoPro.
