From Mine to Recovery: The Case for Nickel Recycling in Europe

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

A new study examines the carbon footprint benefits of recycling the critical metal in Europe.

Scaling battery recycling in Europe will be key to securing a resilient and clean supply of raw materials needed for clean tech in Europe. With significant volumes of scrap and waste batteries becoming available in the coming years, ensuring we have effective capacity in Europe to recover the much needed materials, including nickel, will be vital. How we recycle batteries will be important, ensuring we drive effective, low-carbon processes.

What is the environmental footprint of recycling nickel compared to mining and processing, and how can we scale recycling technologies in Europe? T&E addresses these questions in this briefing, building on research which showed the potential for battery recycling in Europe.

Overall, the analysis finds that recovering nickel from batteries generally has a lower carbon footprint than mining and refining nickel. For a typical VW ID4 (77 kWh) with an NMC battery, using European recycled nickel can achieve savings of 1200kg CO₂e compared to most common primary nickel.

Nevertheless, the recycling route, and other factors such as plant location, can have a huge impact on the overall carbon emissions of the final nickel sulfate produced:

• Hydrometallurgical routes in Europe can reduce the carbon intensity of nickel sulfate by 70% when compared to the dominant primary production routes.
• Emissions stemming from electricity constitute around 15-20% of emissions for hydrometallurgy routes.Therefore, the location of the battery recycler employing this technology can also result in significant reductions in total emissions.
• Compared to China, hydrometallurgical recycling in Europe is estimated to be 21% lower in emissions.

Thanks to Europe’s comparatively cleaner grid, Europe can lead the way in low carbon hydrometallurgical recycling. Given the potential in Europe, and the expected feedstock of waste batteries containing nickel to become available, now is the time to ensure Europe has the needed recycling capacity. Nevertheless, the existing recycling capacity across Europe is 10 times below where it needs to be in 2030, with almost half of Europe’s battery recycling plans at risk.

In order to scale effective and low-emission recycling in Europe, and develop a truly European Single Recycling market, T&E recommends:

• Mainstream and prioritise circularity across policy areas and funding streams: Recycling should be considered as any other clean tech.
• Ban or significantly limit waste material shipment outside the EU: to ensure sufficient feedstock for EU recyclers, including nickel, the CEA must prevent material leakage from end-of-life batteries, black mass and related waste products.
• Simplify intra-EU waste shipment rules to cut costs and administrative burden by further simplifying the Waste Shipment Regulation.
• Implement circularity targets in the EU Batteries Regulation and ensure they benefit EU recyclers, with an amendment to introduce a local preference.

To find out more, download the study.

Article from T&E.