Li-Cycle expects its North America battery recycling operations to produce the equivalent of 6,500 mt to 7,500 mt of black mass containing battery metals in 2022, company executives said March 17.
Li-Cycle's Battery Recycling Facilities and Production Growth
The production target for black mass will be reached upon the commissioning of Li-Cycle’s battery recycling facilities located in Gilbert, Arizona, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama, later this year.
"With the Arizona spoke (recycling facility) nearing completion, we are embarking upon the next frontier in terms of spoke design innovation, concerning scale and process capability," co-founder and Executive Chairman Tim Johnston said during an earnings call with investors. “The plant is the first of its kind and can process full electric vehicle battery packs, making it safer and more efficient in labor. The Alabama spoke is an identical design to the Arizona spoke.”
The Arizona facility is on track to be operational in the second quarter, and the Alabama plant commissioning is expected to come online in the third quarter. Each plant will be capable of recycling 10,000 mt/year of used lithium batteries for black mass, an intermediate raw material which can be further processed to obtain a variety of battery metals.
Li-Cycle currently has two smaller recycling plants in Kingston, Ontario, and Rochester, New York, each with a battery recycling capacity of 5,000 mt/year.
Toronto-based Li-Cycle's black mass is at present sold to third parties, but CEO Ajay Kochhar said more output will be directed to its planned Rochester black mass processing hub when it becomes operational in 2023.
The Rochester hub will be able to process 35,000 mt/year of black mass and produce nickel sulfate, cobalt sulfate, and lithium carbonate.
Li-Cycle reported a $28.5 million profit on $3.8 million in revenue last quarter, up from a $6.8 million loss on sales of $1 million a year earlier.
Li-Cycle's existing operations ramped, leading to a more than 190% year-on-year increase in Q1 production, driving revenues and profits, Kochhar said.
The battery recycler made an estimated 700 mt of black mass in Q1, versus an estimated 240 mt in the same quarter a year earlier, the company's earnings presentation claimed.
